Introduction

Abstract

Up to the Second World War the economic development of Japan was a field of study neglected by Western scholars and a subject little understood in Europe and America. In the last three decades, however, it has aroused the curiosity of a number of historians and economists in Western countries whose work has supplemented the extensive research of the Japanese themselves. The results of some of the recent research were embodied in the revised edition of this book published in 1962, but since then further advances in knowledge of the subject have been made. Although the latest work has not called in question the outline description and the interpretation of historical events given in the original text, it has necessarily revealed certain lacunae. It has also made available in English new information about events previously treated in summary fashion and has indicated where changes of emphasis are required. The present introduction is intended to bring to the notice of readers some of the chief modifications in the author’s previous accounts of Japan’s economic growth that now seem to be required. This is a limited purpose. To try to provide a comprehensive survey of the recent contributions to our knowledge of the economic history of Japan would, of course, be beyond the scope of a short introduction.