Topographies of Urban Atmospheres: Law and Criminal Justice in Japanese Cities

Abstract This essay engages with law and geography in urban Asia by working through the topographies and atmospheres of law and criminal justice in Japan. The places we consider are koban (police boxes) and a legal precinct. Koban stretch across the country; the exemplary legal precinct is in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo, a gateway with mist and haze. The essay develops a set of theoretical thresholds through which to address and work through the atmospheric place-making of law and criminal justice in Tokyo’s urban environments. Our approach to relations between law and geography is situated at the crossroads of jurisprudence and humanities, criminology, and urban studies. Its two key considerations are topography and atmospheres, and place-making and its energies and folds. It is argued that topographic atmospheres of law and criminal justice are jurisdictional exercises. The essay is also an experiment in atmospheric writing.