Abstract This paper reviews the criminal provisions of the copyright infringement laws in Japan and their justifications. In this context, this paper considers some of the theories which seek to explain Japanese legal behaviour including the traditionalist representation of the Japanese as a homogenous group that avoids law because of cultural beliefs. This paper asserts that criminal enforcement of copyright infringement rebuts a traditionalist view and contends that criminal copyright enforcement is economically rational for Japan, given the institutional disincentives to litigate civilly and the comparative wealth of prosecutorial and police resources. This paper also suggests that while the criminalisation of copyright infringement in Japan is path-dependent, Japan is leading moves for global convergence in intellectual property norms in the area of enforcement.

中文翻译：

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日本侵犯版权的刑事定罪及其对日本和日本人的启示

摘要 本文回顾了日本著作权侵权法的刑事规定及其理由。在此背景下，本文考虑了一些试图解释日本法律行为的理论，包括将日本人视为一个因文化信仰而逃避法律的同质群体的传统主义表述。本文断言版权侵权的刑事执法反驳了传统主义的观点，并认为鉴于民事诉讼的制度障碍以及检察和警察资源的相对丰富，刑事版权执法对日本来说在经济上是合理的。本文还表明，虽然日本对侵犯版权的刑事定罪是路径依赖的，