“The rookie and the fallen elite”: an examination of the portrayal of female lawyers in the Japanese legal drama “Onna wa sore wo yurusanai”

ABSTRACT

While most Japanese legal dramas feature a male protagonist as the hero, a significant amount of screen time is allocated to the courtroom heroine as well. This is in spite of statistics that show that women are still underrepresented in the Japanese legal profession. Surveying post-2000 Japanese legal television dramas reveals that televisual female legal professionals conform to two stock character types and corresponding narrative arcs: the rookie lawyer, and the elite but “fallen” lawyer. While most shows only feature one such heroine, Onna wa sore wo yurusanai (2014) features two, representing both types. This paper closely examines how the two stock characters are portrayed in this drama and the relevance of each to the larger narrative which reveals the difficulties female legal professionals face while navigating Japan's male-dominated legal domain. The paper concludes that the increasing presence of the heroine in legal dramas and her overall positive portrayal, reflects the Japanese government's goal of raising the number of legal professionals and women's participation in all public sectors by 2020, and also indicates changing attitudes on the part of Japanese society toward the need to give greater recognition and social acceptance to female legal professionals.

Introduction

Traditionally, law and its agents had been portrayed in a negative light in Japanese visual culture prior to the twenty-first century. Nowadays however, the legal profession is being represented more positively, and even being marked as “trendy” and admirable (Wolff 2014). This change in the depiction of law and its agents has been attributed to the reforms made to Japan's justice system in 2001, which not only brought about greater democratization of the legal process but also led to a significant rise in the public's interest in law. The interest that the public showed in the institution of law naturally led to an increased demand for law-themed movies and television dramas, and Japanese popular culture responded by producing and releasing a plethora of law films, leading scholars to the argument that Japan is experiencing a “golden age of law films” (Calorio and Colombo 2020). Thus, while scholars who have traced the history of the portrayals of law and its agents in film and television in the West note that there has been a change from a positive representation to a negative or cynical one (Thornton 2002; Sherwin 2000; Asimow 2000), the reverse development can be observed in Japanese visual culture.

While visual narratives about legal professionals mostly follow the lives of male protagonists, the legal heroine has also been allocated a significant amount of screen time in Japanese popular culture. Notwithstanding the actual difficulties that female legal professionals face in Japanese society and the legal profession, legal heroines are depicted more positively, as competent, reliable and devoted to the causes of justice. Although Japanese female legal professionals, just like their Western counterparts, are shown to have no (or given up on) private life or marriage prospects, putting forward the argument that such women have achieved their career goals at the cost of the personal (Lucia 2005; Sutherland and Swan 2007), their overall portrayal is positive in comparison to their Western counterparts, who are portrayed as unreliable, incompetent, emotional and unprofessional (Caplow 1999; Corcos 2003). These biased representations of Western female legal professionals caution them against taking this path of “loneliness” (Papke 2003), and arguably, dissuade women from pursuing legal careers altogether. These televisual portrayals also influence the way the public perceives female lawyers (Klein 1998) and even distort actual advancements made by women in law in society (Ray 2012). Conversely, in Japan, women in law are portrayed in a more progressive manner, perhaps even trying to cause a change in the public's attitudes towards female legal professionals while giving them greater recognition.

In Japanese society, traditional patriarchal cultural values, which developed with the influence of different religions that exist in Japan (Fernanda Villa 2019), and social biases and prejudice stemming from historical government policies such as “good wife, wise mother” (Bullock et al. 2018), still encourage women to devote themselves fully to nurturing their families and not pursue independent careers, except part-time jobs. While it cannot be denied that the government has taken certain steps to increase gender equality in the employment sector, such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (1985), Gender Parity Law (2018), Fifth Basic Plan for Gender Equality (2020), these do not provide adequate solutions to the persisting problems. Japanese society still expects women to leave their jobs after getting married and/or having their first child, and those who wish to continue being full-time employees face multiple barriers including gender discrimination in the workplace, tax penalties, and not being able to find childcare and elderly care facilities (Kingston 2022; Nemoto 2016).

These challenges, which force women to give up working full-time, dedicate themselves to their caring and nurturing roles and limit their career aspirations to take up low-paid irregular jobs, are common to all Japanese working women regardless of their field of work. Women working in the legal profession too are prevented from reaching their full career potential due to factors such as the income gap, hiring and workplace discrimination, lack of clients, and the demands of childcare and housework (Kaminaga and Westhoff 2003; Ishida 2016; Osaka 2006). Hence, female legal professionals experience marginalization simply because of their gender.

Despite these challenges, more women are “carving out roles that are not consistent with traditional ideals” (Kingston 2022). This would be one reason why with the development of the “trendy drama”¹ genre, primetime television is featuring heroines that are working women who have chosen to live different lives, not being tied to traditional expectations. At the same time, while “trendy dramas” have led to the re-conceptualization of the “modern woman” to a certain extent, the heroines are still tied to patriarchal values. Thus, while these heroines are portrayed as independent, they are also marked as suffering from “loneliness” and a “consistent lack of fulfilment” (Darlington 2013).

The representation of female legal professionals in Japanese television dramas can be seen as a subgenre of “trendy dramas” which focuses on women working in the legal domain. However, these legal dramas are significantly different in that they often portray working women as satisfied and content at work. Thus, following the Justice System Reforms of 2001, popular culture has responded to a need to imagine what kind of lawyers women can be in a changing socio-cultural and legal context. As the primary target of these dramas is a female audience (Toru 2004), televisual legal heroines could potentially serve as role models² for viewers.

Portrayal of female lawyers in “Onna wa sore wo yurusanai”

“The rookie and the fallen elite”

Surveying post-2000 Japanese legal television dramas, especially those that feature women in leading roles, reveals that regardless of their age, level of experience or social status, female legal professionals are depicted as having certain attributes in common, such as the lack of a romantic relationship and the preference for solitary living. Notwithstanding these overall similarities, televisual female legal professionals conform to two stock character types and corresponding narrative arcs: the “rookie lawyer”, who is full of self-doubt and is naive about the way law “really functions” in society, and needs to mature as the drama progresses, and the “elite but ‘fallen’ lawyer”, who is confident and capable but loses her legal power due to male colleagues conspiring against her, and has to overcome professional and personal challenges before she can regain her former position. These two stock character types appear across all legal dramas featuring the legal heroine, although based on the individual television drama or film each character will have added idiosyncrasies. The drama under analysis in this paper is unique because of the fact that instead of featuring only one such character type, which is the norm in legal television dramas, it features two heroines, representing each type.

“Onna wa sore wo yurusanai” (TBS 2014) (literally: “Women won't allow it”) narrates the story of two female lawyers who undergo challenges in order to reach their utmost potential as attorneys. The audience first meets Urara Iwasaki when she has given up working as a lawyer due to a mistake she made in the past which makes her fearful of standing in court, and is handling multiple part-time jobs to pay off her law school loans. She fits into the “rookie lawyer” character type as she is full of self-doubt, naive about the way law “really functions” in society and needs to mature as the drama progresses. On the other hand, viewers encounter Rinka Ebisawa when she is at the top of her career. She represents the “elite but ‘fallen’ lawyer” character type in this drama as she is portrayed as a confident and capable lawyer who loses her legal power due to male colleagues conspiring against her, and she has to go through several challenges in order to return to her former position. Two male colleagues (one being her male senior and the other her subordinate) come up with a plan to frame Rinka for having leaked confidential data to a rival company. As a result, she is not only made to quit the famous law firm she works at but also loses her license to practice law. When she “falls”, there is no one who is willing to help her until she is hired as a paralegal by her college senior, Tadamori, at his “machiben” (literally: “small private law firm”) on the condition that if she receives ten “thank yous” from her clients, he will help her reapply for bar membership. As Rinka has no license to practice law, at the suggestion of Tadamori, she finds and hires an attorney, Urara, to work under her guidance.

As a “rookie”, Urara appears meek and innocent which often leads her clients to doubt her skills (which also adds to her own self-doubt). In the first half of the drama, she is depicted as having no confidence in her skills as a lawyer and whenever she talks about her profession she avoids eye contact and keeps her head low. Events that add to her self-doubt include overhearing the conversation between her colleagues from the part-time data entry job,³ and receiving letters of non-selection from law-related jobs that she has applied for. One could even state that she is suffering from imposter syndrome as her “feelings of inadequacy” prevents her from performing to the best of her abilities (Crawford 2021). Even when she is alone in her house, she is shown to be pouting in doubt, huddled up and covering herself with a blanket, and fiddling around with her lawyers’ badge.⁴ As these scenes, which show her internal struggle, are filmed using a mixture of close-up and extreme close-up shots, viewers are able to relate better to her feelings and emotions. Moreover, at several instances, she vocalizes her self-doubt by telling other characters that she is “muitenai” (literally: “not suitable”) as an attorney.⁵

However, she is quite capable and has the unique talent of seeing things from a “zero beesu shikou” (literally: “zero-based thinking”) perspective.⁶ This concept which, in the West refers to a process of making decisions by imagining oneself at a point in time before certain decisions were made, but having all the present knowledge (Tracy 2003), is also used in Japan and taught at business and management schools, but takes on a different meaning and method. The Japanese understand it as referring to a kind of critical thinking technique which allows one to think without any preconceptions and leads to the generation of creative and innovative ideas alongside the ability to see things from a customer's point of view. In order to think in this manner, it is suggested that one questions oneself using “somo somo” (literally: “in the first place”) (Murao 2021). Although the extent to which this method of thinking is encouraged in the Japanese legal profession is unknown (almost all the search results brought up Urara and the drama), in a book written by a lawyer, Masahiko Shouji, it is suggested that legal professionals may also benefit from using this method during negotiations (Heibonsha 2007).

In the drama, Urara utilizes her “zero beesu shikou” skill to uncover her clients’ “true” wants and needs. For example, in episode two, she resolves the fraud case involving marriage hunting by proxy, by showing to the two parties in the suit that there is no problem in the first place. In this case, the parents of Nanako and Toshio set up an arranged marriage between them, after having met at a “konkatsu” (literally: “marriage hunting”) gathering. However, the parents realize later that the photographs submitted to the club had been taken ten years ago. Enraged at being deceived, Nanako's mother goes to Tadamori law firm to sue Toshio's father for fraud. As the photograph submitted by Nanako's mother had also been taken ten years ago, Toshio's father files a counter-suit. However, Urara notices that Nanako and Toshio have fallen in love, and explains to the parties why there should not be a problem:

Urara:

“Both Toshio-san and Nanako-san saw each other's photos and took a liking right?”

Nanako's mother:

“She liked him in his photo from ten years ago”

Urara:

“So, if this was ten years ago, you would have liked each other and happily married right? And ten years later, even if their appearance changed, you wouldn't consider that fraud, would you? […]”

Toshio's father:

“We are talking about “ima”! (literally: “now”)”

Urara:

“Whose “ima” are you talking about? Is it the parents’? I’m talking about Toshio-san and Nanako-san's “ima”. I’m talking about how they feel about the person in front of their eyes now”⁷

In this manner, Urara resolves the dispute by using her “zero beesu shikou” approach, and by the end of the episode, receives a postcard from Nanako and Toshio which says that they are getting married. The drama, therefore, seems to show that Urara, while using a fresh perspective in her legal practice, also takes into account the emotional bonds between people when deciding how to resolve disputes. One could thus argue that Urara is able to speak in a “different voice” (Menkel-Meadow 1985). Drawing on the moral theory of Carol Gilligan (1982), who argued that women resolve conflicts using a care-based approach as opposed to men who would think in a more individualistic and abstract terms during conflict resolution, Carrie Menkel-Meadow (1985) has speculated that women might practice law differently or that they would add something new to the legal system and the lawyering process because they approach issues of law using a “different voice”.

An important characteristic of this “different voice” is being able to “enter the world of the client, thereby understanding more fully what the client desires and why, without the domination of what the lawyer perceives to be ‘in the client's best interest’” (Menkel-Meadow 1985). This is exactly what Urara is able to do with her “zero beesu shikou” skills. As such, she is portrayed as being different from the “ordinary” (arguably male) attorney who would have settled this dispute by obtaining monetary compensation for their client, and stayed within the legal “box”, or a strictly rule-bound method of legal practice, where emphasis is placed on winning a case.

In this manner, Urara stands for a form of justice which encourages thinking “outside the (legal) box”. The viewer is shown this “box” by juxtaposing what she sees against what Rinka (who exemplifies a more rigid, almost “masculine”, approach to justice in the drama) does. For instance, when the two visit Yuriko Saegusa who is being sued for maternity harassment by their client Sayaka Noda, a three-shot frame shows that while Rinka converses with and questions Saegusa directly about her conduct (they are both wearing light coloured clothes), Urara (wearing a contrasting dark coloured outfit) is seen looking at something outside the frame.⁸ This is followed by a two-shot which shows Rinka noticing Urara spacing out and asking her what is wrong in a low voice.⁹ The next shot is a medium close-up of Urara, followed by a close-up insert shot of a photograph which shows Sayaka and Saegusa standing side by side and smiling at a celebratory event.¹⁰

Similarly, when the two visit their client, Sayaka's house, while Rinka is seated at the dining table looking at Sayaka's baby and conversing with her, a medium close-up profile shot of Urara shows her focusing on something completely unrelated.¹¹ The point-of-view sequence that follows includes two insert shots of books on Sayaka's bookshelves, and the camera, following Urara's eyes, pans to show the same photograph (presumably Sayaka's copy of it) that was there in Saegusa's office.¹² These scenes indicate to the viewer that Urara is doing and thinking of something else. A later scene¹³ confirms that what Urara was doing was applying her “zero beesu shikou” skills and wondering “somo somo (literally: ‘in the first place’), did maternity harassment really take place?” and “what is it that the client truly wants?”. Towards the end of the episode, Urara successfully realizes that the true culprit has to be someone other than Saegusa, and that what Sayaka, her client, truly wanted was her old job back. By using her “zero beesu shikou” skills, Urara always helps her clients find “closure” and move on with their lives after a case is concluded. Thus, it can be argued that the “rookie lawyer” in this drama speaks in a “different voice” and embodies an “ethic of care”, or, “aidagara”, which is the equivalent of Gilligan's feminist concept in Japanese philosophy (McCarthy 2008).

Furthermore, with Rinka's influence and guidance, Urara overcomes her fear of standing in court and comes to terms with her past. As required and expected in the character trope of the “rookie lawyer”, Urara matures as a lawyer as the drama progresses, and in the words of Rinka, she “upgrades” from a “aruku bajji” (literally: “walking badge”, existing merely to support Rinka who does not have a license), to a “houtei ni tateru bajji” (literally: “a badge that can stand in court”), and finally to a “yuzureru bajji” (literally: “threatening badge”).

In contrast, Rinka is portrayed as the archetypal successful woman lawyer who is able to spend extravagantly, live at a fancy condominium, and treat herself to luxury items and expensive food, and even when she “falls”, she does not let go of these habits. She is always confident and is depicted as having the skills and knowledge to win any case. One could even argue that she is portrayed as being successful in the male-dominated legal domain for having “assimilat[ed] to male norms” (Menkel-Meadow 1985). Exemplifying a more rigid, “masculine” approach to justice, Rinka sees her clients only as abstract entities and believes that what matters in the end is to always win her cases for which purpose she often uses “kitanai yarikata” (literally: “dirty tactics”). For instance, in episode one, in exchange for promising to keep a secret that the company president's secretary is using company funds for improper uses (such as to buy things for his mistress), she gets insider information that will benefit her client, Noda Sayaka, in her suit against her former employer.¹⁴ In a similar manner, Rinka often finds weaknesses of others and exploits those weaknesses to obtain confidential information that will help her win cases. However, working with Urara makes her become more empathetic towards her clients and she eventually incorporates a certain amount of “zero beesu shikou” in her defences as well, making her an unbeatable opponent at court.

Despite there being two protagonists in the drama, and both receiving almost equal screen time, it could be argued that viewers are asked to identify more with Urara and her approach to legal practice because, on the whole, she is positioned closest to the camera, and tighter and cleaner shots (which continue for a comparatively longer duration) are used to frame her scenes. For example, even in the dialogue scene that follows Rinka's visit to Urara at her part-time job in order to recruit her, although the two-shots, which are filmed using a profile angle, place the two characters at equal height, during the alternating over-the-shoulder shots, Urara is always framed using close-up shots (but also filmed at a high angle making her look weak and confused), while Rinka is framed using medium close-up shots suggesting a little more emotional distance (but, as she is filmed using a low angle, it makes her look powerful and confident).¹⁵

While the two characters, Urara and Rinka are certainly opposites in terms of character, appearance, clothing, lifestyle and tactics employed at court, they work with, and learn from, each other in order to better serve the needs of their clients. What this seems to suggest is that both justice types, which are insufficient on their own, need to be combined. Thus, although Rinka is depicted as the more successful of the two for having conquered the male legal world, Urara's “ethic of care” is shown as equally valid and a reason for success, and that to bring forth “ultimate justice” each approach needs a little of the other. As such, while the drama values both character types and their corresponding ethical perspectives for their respective merits, the final message is that there should be a union between the “ethic of care” and “ethic of justice” in order to effectively fight against injustice. The drama, thus, portrays “a fully mature and integrated vision of lawyering” (Menkel-Meadow 1985). This understanding of the drama not only supports the view of feminist scholars who argue that the “world should be reconstructed so that both voices are heard and valued” but also of Japanese scholars who argue that “more individuality is essential” in a society like Japan where emphasis is placed instead on community consensus (Baker 1997).¹⁶

Consequently, “Onna wa sore wo yurusanai” becomes markedly different from legal dramas that feature only one of the two stock character types. While it can be noted that all shows featuring legal heroines have similar “correctives” to their approaches to legal practice (which is something that is absent in legal dramas featuring the legal hero, as they are almost always portrayed as geniuses whose approaches are without any fault), in shows that feature only one type of stock character, the narratives tend to take a different perspective. In the case of the “rookie” (such as Rakuko from “Soko Wo Nantoka” [NHK 2012], and Akari from “Hokaben” [NTV 2008]), they are shown to champion emotion, and despite being taught the importance of abstraction, they stubbornly continue with a mostly “emotional” approach to legal practice. There is even a hint that such lawyers are therefore second rate, despite taking the “correct” approach to justice.

On the other hand, in dramas that feature the “fallen elite” (such as Takako from “Rikon Bengoshi” (Fuji TV 2004) and Itsuki from “Monster Parents” [Fuji TV/KTV 2008]), although the heroines learn the importance of emotion, they mostly stick to an approach that champions abstraction. Their stories are also narrated in such a way that even after overcoming various challenges, career-wise they never return to their former position of glory because they decide that they can use their talent in small firms in order to help people in need.

Furthermore, in legal television shows that feature only one character type, the heroines learn from, and are influenced by, a male role model. In contrast, by featuring the two stock character types within the same narrative, “Onna wa sore wo yurusanai” is able to both unite two approaches to law and justice, and present strong female role models, while also encouraging solidarity between women lawyers. It is important to highlight this final message because although television dramas are made for entertainment and profit, it is also a powerful medium through which ideologies can be transmitted to society (Fiske and Hartley 2003).

Legal heroines, gender dynamics and narratives of success

"Popular legal representations serve as a cultural barometer revealing pressing needs, fantasies, and anxieties, as well as beliefs, hopes, and aspirations that are circulating in society" (Sherwin 2001)

Considering the impact of popular culture on people's perceptions of law and gender, it is important to investigate what it means for Urara and Rinka to be represented the way they are, especially in the light of new legal reforms in Japan, the continuing influence of dominant patriarchy on gender norms, and changing attitudes toward working women in Japanese society. The paper will now highlight three related aspects that televisual portrayals reveal about female legal professionals in Japan.

First and foremost, one could ask the question of why the elite lawyer, who marks the epitome of the screen female lawyer's success, needs to fall. This points to the understanding that regardless of women's capabilities and career achievements, patriarchal society still remains a threat to them; if a woman goes against expected gender norms, she will seem like a threat to male dominance and will be made to suffer (in the form of “falling”) for her “transgression”. The narrative of the “fall” of Rinka reveals the jealousy and insecurity that male bosses feel toward successful women, and it suggests that women gaining more power is not acceptable within a patriarchal society and that those in power would resort to underhanded tactics to prevent women's success¹⁷ in the legal domain.

Furthermore, the reason why the rookie Urara is portrayed as naive is not only because the narrative tries to show that there is a higher chance of being successful if the “masculine” sense of justice, or voice, is embraced (the way Rinka does), but also because she is convinced that the only way to achieve justice is through an “ethic of care”. If the law is gendered male, it could be Urara's inability to speak in a “masculine” voice that leads her to suffer from imposter syndrome and self-doubt. The powerlessness that women lawyers may feel in the early days of their career when they are expected to follow the orders of their male bosses who are not supportive of them is also highlighted. However, the opposition that Urara faces is less because she still lives up to gendered expectations, especially in terms of outward appearance, and exudes cuteness and innocence which are traits traditionally considered to be desirable in Japanese women. Thus, in the portrayal of both stock character types, there is a tendency to show that despite female successes, men are in ultimate control of the trajectory of women's professional lives.

This brings one to the second aspect that televisual portrayals reveal, that is, the importance of female solidarity to achieve success as women in the legal domain. Urara and Rinka support and contribute to each others’ success as seen from the consolation scenes: when Urara was at the point of giving up her career as a lawyer due to a combination of fear (of standing in court) and self-doubt (of having made a mistake in the past), it is Rinka's speech that makes Urara remain working as a lawyer:

Rinka:

“It must have been tough for you. I didn't know what you were going through, and all I did was say harsh things to you. From now on, you can tell me anything. If you thought I’d say that you are making a big mistake. Basically, what you did was run away […] Seriously, this is nonsense! Hurry up and come to the office. We have to prepare for the trial”

Urara:

“But I still think I can't stand at court”

Rinka:

“You said so didn't you? A lawyer that helps people? Don't make me laugh! How many times are you going to make your clients adapt to your circumstances? If you don't stand in court, no one can move forward. Neither the client you’re representing, nor you yourself” (emphasis added)¹⁸

Similarly, when Rinka was going through the same dilemma and battling with her feelings of guilt stemming from the consequences of using a “dirty tactic” on behalf of one of her clients, it is Urara who convinces her not to give up her professional life and to make up for her mistake through work:

Urara:

“Are you going to quit practicing law? I don't like the tactics you use, but I think you’re a first-rate lawyer. Knowledge, experience, capability. Compared to you, I’m nothing. Yet why? You should’ve been pleading for your case fair and square. Why did you use a tactic like that?”

Rinka:

“That might have worked at a small private law firm but not at Saint. For a lone woman to aim for the top of that firm, losing is not allowed. There are things in this world that can't be done fair and square. But then, perhaps somewhere along the way I got too obsessed with winning […]”

Urara:

“It's true that what you did is unforgivable. But what you’re doing now is just running away from the problem. The mistake you made at work can only be made up at work. After you dragged me back into practicing law against my will, after preaching to me all the time. But I’m glad I was able to come back as an attorney. I want to be of more help to people. So I want you to teach me all kinds of things and I want to work together with you. I won't allow you to quit on your own” (emphasis added)¹⁹

While both are shown to have made mistakes as lawyers, both mistakes stem from having to compete in, and live up to, standards set up by the male-dominated legal domain: while Urara was not allowed by her former boss to investigate further into her child abuse case to repair any wrong judgment she may have made about her client, Rinka was expected to utilize “apathetic” tactics to keep up in the male corporate world. It is with each others’ help that Urara and Rinka come to terms with their mistakes, and take steps to atone for them and move forward in their lives. Thus, female solidarity is represented as essential to overcome self-doubt that arises when female lawyers face the realities of working in a male-dominated world.

Furthermore, it is with the help of each others’ influence that both achieve professional success in the end. For Urara, learning about the tactics that Rinka uses to win her cases (which are completely antithetical to the “ethic of care”) makes her a stronger and more mature legal opponent. In the case of Rinka, it is by working with Urara that she develops empathy for her clients and grows as a lawyer, and it is Urara's outward refusal to let Rinka continue working at a small-town law firm²⁰ that makes Rinka go back to the corporate world where she can put her skills to the best use. While the drama does try to show that having a supportive male boss like Tadamori can help them become successful in the workplace, it is ultimately female solidarity that makes both women “shine”²¹ as lawyers.

This leads one to the third and final aspect of the positive portrayal of televisual female lawyers. While it is true that there is a hint throughout the drama that despite being at the top, women in law are required to choose one (a career) over the other (family life) and must live a life of singlehood, this is not shown as something negative or to be regretful about and is instead portrayed as fulfilling. One could argue that the suggestion seems to be that women have multiple options to choose from (Freedman and Iwata-Weickgennant 2011). In terms of being a lawyer then, a woman could choose to be like either of the two stock character types, or a mixture of both. Despite this being limiting in a certain sense, it nevertheless narrativizes different pathways which may serve as role models.

Moreover, the portrayals reveal the potential that female legal professionals have in contributing to law by using new methods of dispute resolution. The “ethic of care” approach that makes evident Urara's ability to think outside the (legal) box to bring a sense of “closure” to her clients adds a fresh perspective to the more rigid and rule-governed approach that Rinka uses. Furthermore, even though Rinka is fully capable of using “masculine legal tools”, she is portrayed as being richer for being able to better relate to women's issues due to her own gender experiences.

In addition, the drama tries to show that being female lawyers can help them better serve fellow women and contribute to their advancement in society. While there is a belief that female lawyers “have a stronger feminist consciousness” and that their own status as women would encourage them to be representatives of other women and fight against the discrimination that women face (Kay and Gorman 2008), surveys conducted on women lawyers in Japan revealed a “discouraging” fact, which is that there are women lawyers who do not want to be “associated with women's rights issues” (Kaminaga and Westhoff 2003). Yuriko Kaminaga and Jörn Westhoff (2003) believe that the reason for this could be that these women want to set themselves apart from their gender identity to reach “the elite position of male lawyers”.²² Perhaps the drama provides an eye-opener or an incentive for action because not only do almost all the cases in the drama involve female clients and deal with women's rights issues, but the title of the drama also alludes to the fact that women in positions of power (attorneys, in this case) should not allow fellow women in disadvantaged positions to suffer and that they have a duty to help women in need.

The drama also challenges Japanese society's biased attitudes towards female lawyers by depicting Urara and Rinka as equally (or more) talented and dedicated as their male counterparts. In Japanese society, clients seem to prefer male lawyers because of the assumption that women are “inferior” (Ishida 2016) and that having a female lawyer during negotiations can be a “disadvantage” (Kaminaga and Westhoff 2003). As such, female lawyers are generally limited to working in family law where clients show some readiness to be represented by a female lawyer (Kaminaga and Westhoff 2003). The portrayal of the two female lawyers in the drama as top-notch, may, thus, convince viewers that female lawyers deserve a bigger share at the bar.

As a final observation, it should be noted that Taisuke, the legal apprentice who worked at Tadamori law firm, who aspired to be a judge but after working under Urara and Rinka as a junior, sees the potential of lawyers to bring about justice and ends up becoming a lawyer himself. Referring to Urara and Rinka in the final episode, he says that they are the “saikyou no tagu” (literally: “the strongest tag team”) that “brought a lawyer called Takiguchi Taisuke into the legal world”.²³ This marks female lawyers as worthy role models who become inspirations to aspiring legal professionals.

Conclusion

The interrelationship between law and popular culture in Japan has started to gain scholarly attention only recently and is still understudied. While recent studies (Wolff 2014; Pearson et al. 2018; Calorio and Colombo 2020) have contributed to the filling of the lacuna in the field, they have not looked exclusively at female legal professionals.

Through a detailed examination of the two stock character types that appear in Onna wa sore wo yurusanai, I have analysed in this paper the way in which female lawyers are represented on screen and what such representations reveal about gender dynamics in Japanese society, how to succeed as women in law and what their potential contribution to law would be. The paper has argued that the increasing presence of the heroine in legal dramas and her overall positive portrayal may indicate changing attitudes on the part of Japanese society toward the need to give greater recognition and social acceptance to female legal professionals because not only are they as equally talented as their male peers, but they also have the potential to bring in an additional perspective into law to serve the needs of justice.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 See, Mamoru (2004) and Iwabuchi (2004) on how changes in Japanese society after the 1980s, including the increasing consumerism, led to changes in television drama production and the immense popularity of the “trendy drama” genre among young women.

2 While the portrayal of female lawyers as “brilliant” on television provides a positive role model for prospective female legal professionals (Kinchen 2020; Sutherland and Swan 2007), depicting them as “warriors – certain to achieve victory – sets the bar far too high” (Kinchen 2020) and may present an “unattainable ideal” (Sutherland and Swan 2007) for women in law in society.

3 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 1, 02:35–02:46. Referring to Urara, her colleagues say that “she's so slow … how can someone like her be an attorney”.

4 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 1, 20:18–20:31.

5 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 4, 09:11.

6 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 1, 44:27–44:45.

7 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 2, 28:22–29:23.

8 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 1, 28:34–28:41.

9 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 1, 28.53–28.57.

10 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 1, 28.59–29.00.

11 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 1, 31:37–31:39.

12 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 1, 31:40–31:54.

13 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 1, 45:10–45:22.

14 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 1, 42:02–42:25.

15 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 1, 19:12–19:56.

16 Here, Martha Jean Baker refers to the work of the scholars Leslie Bender and Tatsuo Inoue, respectively.

17 In the recent Netflix drama, Partner Track (2022), there is a similar plotline: the protagonist, Ingrid Yun, a hardworking and talented female lawyer (who is presented as the most skilled M&A lawyer at the prestigious New York law firm where she works at) loses out on making partner because her boyfriend, who she confides in, discloses her secret to their boss in order to take that partnership position for himself.

18 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 4, 16:15–17:19.

19 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 9, 13:33–16:39.

20 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 10, 41:10–42:54.

21 In 2014, as a part of his policy on “Womenomics”, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe expressed the promise to make Japan a “kagayaku josei no shakai” (literally: “a society where women shine”) at the Council for Supporting Women to Shine (Prime Minister's Office of Japan).

22 While on the one hand this may point to the fact that Japanese female lawyers are “losing their … willingness to strive for social transformation” (Hayashi 1992), on the other hand, female lawyers may be reluctant to handle cases involving women's rights issues, such as sex discrimination, because litigating in such cases would not enable them to earn a good income or receive sufficient lawyers’ fees (Hayashi 1992).

23 Onna Wa Sore Wo Yurusanai, TBS, 2014, Episode 10, 43:36–43:42.