Why Has Japan Succeeded?: Western Technology and the Japanese Ethos

Morishima, M.

ISBN 10: 0521269032 / ISBN 13: 9780521269032

Published by Cambridge University Press, 1994

About this Item

This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside.This book has soft covers. Book contains pen & pencil markings In poor condition, suitable as a reading copy. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item,400grams, ISBN:9780521269032.

Seller Inventory # 9623226

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Why Has Japan Succeeded?: Western Technology and the Japanese Ethos
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521269032
• ISBN 13: 9780521269032
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Poor
• Weight: 400 grams
• Seller catalogs:
  • Economics

About this title

Synopsis

This book, by a distinguished Japanese economist now resident in the West, offers a new interpretation of the current success of the Japanese economy. By placing the rise of Japan in the context of its historical development, Michio Morishima shows how a strongly-held national ethos has interacted with religious, social and technological ideas imported from elsewhere to produce highly distinctive cultural traits. While Professor Morishima traces the roots of modern Japan back as far as the introduction of Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism from China in the sixth century, he concentrates his observations on the last 120 years during which Japan has had extensive contacts with the West. He describes the swift rise of Japan to the status of a first-rate power following the Meiji Revolution after 1867, in which Japan broke with a long history of isolationism, and which paved the way for the adoption of Western technology and the creation of a modern Western-style nation state; and a similarly meteoric rise from the devastation of the Second World War to Japan's present position. A range of factors in Japan's economic success are analysed: her characteristic dualistic social structure - corresponding to the divide between large and medium/small enterprises - the relations of government and big business, the poor reception of liberalism and individualism, and the strength of the Japanese nationalism. Throughout, Professor Morishima emphasises the importance of the role played in the creation of Japanese capitalism by ethical doctrines as transformed under Japanese conditions, especially the Japanese Confucian tradition of complete loyalty to the firm and to the state. This account, which makes clear the extent to which the economic rise of Japan is due to factors unique to its historical traditions, will be of interest to a wide general readership as well as to students of Japan and its history.

From the Back Cover

This book, by a distinguished Japanese economist now resident in the West, offers a new interpretation of the current success of the Japanese economy. By placing the rise of Japan in the context of its historical development, Michio Morishima shows how a strongly-held national ethos has interacted with religious, social and technological ideas imported from elsewhere to produce highly distinctive cultural traits.