author
J. E. (Joseph Ernest) De Becker
1863–1929
An English-born lawyer and writer who made Japan his home, he wrote in clear, curious prose about Japanese law, history, and urban life at the turn of the 20th century. His work is still remembered today for opening a detailed window onto Meiji-era society.
1 Audiobook
The nightless city; or, The "history of the Yoshiwara Yūkwaku"
by J. E. (Joseph Ernest) De Becker
About the author
Born in 1863 and dying in 1929, Joseph Ernest De Becker is identified in major library and reference records as a lawyer as well as an author. Sources connected with his later life in Japan also link him with the Japanese name Kobayashi Beika.
Reference works from the period say he arrived in Japan in 1887, learned the language, and became closely involved with the study of Japanese customs and law. He is associated with legal writings such as Elements of Japanese Law and other books on Japanese civil and commercial law, showing how strongly his career centered on explaining Japan's modern legal system to English-language readers.
He is also known to general readers for The Nightless City; or, The History of the Yoshiwara Yūkwaku, a vivid study of Tokyo's licensed pleasure quarter. Alongside that book, surviving bibliographic records show a wider range of interests, including works on Japanese history such as Notes on the Mongol Invasion of Japan.