This is Bill Tsutsui with another Postcard from Asia from the Center for East Asian Studies.

From a criminal justice system which encouraged offenders to ask their best friends to behead them, Japan is poised to step into a new era: one of trial by jury. In order to accomplish this by 2009, Japanese people are training by watching “12 Angry Men” and staging mock trials to help the people overcome a deep cultural aversion to expressing their opinions and questioning authority. At a recent mock trial, when the judge asked the jury their thoughts on whether the criminal was guilty, a full 14 seconds went by with no response. To give you an idea of just how long that is, we’ll end here, a mere 9 seconds before time is up …

With thanks to Randi Hacker for this text, from the Center for East Asian Studies, I’m Bill Tsutsui. Wish you were here.