Table of Contents

Preface; Acknowledgement; Map; Introduction; 1. The Taika Reform and after; 2. The Meiji Revolution; 3. The Japanese empire (I); 4. The Japanese empire (II); 5. The San Francisco regime; Conclusion; Postscript to the paperback edition; Index.

Reviews

'... stands out from the rest not only because of Professor Morishima's exceptional ability as an economist and his intimate native knowledge of Japan; but for the remarkable ambition to do for Japanese economic history what R. H. Tawney did for England in Religion and the Rise of Capitalism. He aims first to show how the distinctive version of Confucianism which took root in Japan helped to create totally different economic conditions from those in China; just as differing interpretations of the same Bible created quite different economic results in Protestant, as compared with Catholic, Europe. But the major part of the book is devoted to showing how Japanese Confucianism provided such an extraordinary fertile ground for the adaptation and development of Western scientific ideas despite centuries of isolation and technological neglect. His analysis is admirable for the range of its insights and the modesty of its conclusions. It confirms again the necessity for, and the richness of, explanations of economic behaviour in terms of political theory and social change'. Jeremy Hardie, The Times Literary Supplement