J. E. De Becker

Joseph Ernest de Becker (1863–1929) was an English-born lawyer and writer who spent most of his life in Japan. Settling in Yokohama, he studied Japanese law and society, became a naturalized Japanese subject and practiced as a legal adviser. He translated and annotated the Japanese Civil Code and wrote handbooks of Japanese law and commercial practice for foreign readers. His best-known work, The Nightless City, or the History of the Yoshiwara Yūkwaku (1899), is a detailed account of Tokyo's licensed pleasure quarter, drawn largely from Japanese sources, and remains a frequently cited source on the subject.