Paul Murphy’s Followers (1)

Paul Murphy

Genre

Nonfiction

edit data

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Paul Murphy is an award-winning journalist who has worked for a variety of print and broadcast media for over two decades in Japan and Ireland. He is currently a television reporter for RTE's Investigations Unit in Dublin and has previously worked as a writer and copy editor for the Mainichi Daily News, as a business reporter with the International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun in Tokyo and freelanced for a variety of publications including the Irish Times and Irish Independent dailies. His first book, True Crime Japan, is based on over a year spent in the courtrooms of Matsumoto City in Nagano Prefecture where he followed cases ranging from an octogenarian Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Paul Murphy is an award-winning journalist who has worked for a variety of print and broadcast media for over two decades in Japan and Ireland. He is currently a television reporter for RTE's Investigations Unit in Dublin and has previously worked as a writer and copy editor for the Mainichi Daily News, as a business reporter with the International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun in Tokyo and freelanced for a variety of publications including the Irish Times and Irish Independent dailies. His first book, True Crime Japan, is based on over a year spent in the courtrooms of Matsumoto City in Nagano Prefecture where he followed cases ranging from an octogenarian convicted for stealing food from a supermarket; to a middle-aged man who beat his 91-year-old mother to death; to a former yakuza (gangster) jailed for pimping teenage girls. The book relies not just on information yielded from typically lengthy (and usually revealing) courtroom cross examinations but also interviews with neighbours and families of defendants as well as lawyers and police and others connected. All are interwoven with insight from Murphy's own experience of a decade living and working in Japan. The result is a book of stories about people that is as much about Japanese society as about Japanese crime. So why is all of this of interest? Firstly, Japan is a fascinating country and this book reveals much about its people, using the courtroom as a lens to view the society. Secondly, its justice system is equally fascinating as it blends a prosecutorial style which can be surprisingly forgiving — especially for non-drug crimes — with an unyieldingly harsh prison system. Thirdly, we should pay attention to Japan because, objectively, the justice system works much better there than in most, arguably all, other rich countries. Crime is very low even by the standards of East Asia and imprisonment rates are far beneath other major economies and a fraction of the US, which in 2012 jailed, proportionate to population, 13 times more of its people than Japan. Japan can not only enthral us, but it can also teach us. ...more

Combine Editions
Paul Murphy’s books

Average rating: 3.94 · 334 ratings · 59 reviews · 2 distinct works • Similar authors

	True Crime Japan: Thieves, Rascals, Killers and Dope Heads: True Stories From a Japanese Courtroom 3.94 avg rating — 334 ratings — published 2016 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Academic Writing: Mastering Citation and Referencing 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Japanese Literature: True Crime Japan by Paul Murphy	24	47	Oct 12, 2023 08:50AM
Around the World: 2023 - Where in the world are you? (Currently Reading) Part 2	15	18	Dec 30, 2023 01:16PM
Read Women: What are you reading?	1017	1129	Dec 02, 2025 11:44AM
Obsessed with Tru...: Acquisitions 2022-26 -- New Reads? Movies? Whatevers?	198	156	Jul 15, 2026 12:42PM
Around the World ...: Carol - Circumnavigator	954	1057	Jul 26, 2026 07:26PM

More…

Is this you? Let us know. If not, help out and invite Paul to Goodreads.

Paul Murphy’s Followers (1)

Paul Murphy

Combine EditionsPaul Murphy’s books

Topics Mentioning This Author

Combine Editions
Paul Murphy’s books