Japanese Capitalism and Entrepreneurship: A History of Business from the Tokugawa Era to the Present by Pierre-Yves Donzé and Julia Yongue offers an excellent and long overdue upgrade to existing English language textbooks on the business and economic history of modern Japan. The authors, who have both built careers for themselves in Japan, are to be commended for putting together this highly readable account, which is accessible to both students and scholars alike, and introduces readers to a lot of the recent work that has been carried out in Japanese that is usually beyond the reach of an international audience. In so doing, the authors provide a textbook that challenges many stereotypes about the Japanese economy and its historical development (especially state-centric narratives) and dispels the notion that the so-called lost decades following the end of the bubble economy meant prolonged Japanese inertia and a lack of change. What this work stresses instead are the dynamics in Japanese capitalism over time, with several distinct phases and structural characteristics.

The first phase identified is deemed “rural capitalism” and was characteristic of the Edo period (1603–1867) and the early part of the Meiji period (1868–1912). This was followed by an emerging industrial capitalism originating in the late Meiji period, particularly between the Sino-Japanese (1894–1895) and Russo-Japanese wars (1904–1905) and then intensifying as Japan built a colonial empire. The next phase was “wartime capitalism” that developed in the 1930s, with intensifying controls into the mid-1940s when Japan was defeated and occupied, primarily by the US. Following on from the occupation period (1945–1952), which saw several important reforms, Japanese capitalism entered a phase described by the authors as “communitarian capitalism,” which saw the continuation of some features of the wartime era, such as state–big business coordination, while it also opened space for new innovative firms to emerge. It was in this era that Japan recovered from the devastation of World War Two and passed through an era of high-speed economic growth that saw it catch up economically with the West. Because of this success, by the 1980s, a great interest in the “Japanese model” emerged, and the image of this era popularized by books such as Chalmers Johnson’s Miti and the Japanese Economic Miracle has become somewhat entrenched in the scholarship outside of Japan. This has come despite several global and domestic realignments and the severe fallout following the bursting of the bubble economy. Instead of being stuck on an outdated model that is resistant to reform efforts, from the 1980s and beyond the bubble era, Japan has converged, though not completely, with what the authors describe as “financial capitalism” as seen in the US and several other Western countries. Though it is beyond the scope of this review to fully summarize and examine each of these eras, the approach taken by the authors highlights dynamism and sometimes abrupt shifts over path dependence.

The authors’ shared background in business history is evident in the text in that Japan’s development is narrated with business and entrepreneurs in the foreground. This approach further underscores the idea of the dynamic nature of Japanese capitalism. Both in the main text and via numerous “boxes” (another textbook-like feature of the book), the authors spotlight both internationally renowned Japanese businesses and entrepreneurs, and less well-known but nevertheless revealing cases that speak to the wider changes in the Japanese economy. The sheer diversity in the cases presented in these boxes is valuable in itself, offering instructors a useful platform from which to get their students to dig deeper. Among the topics covered are: The House of Mitsui; the Postal Service; Shiseido; Shimadzu; the South Manchurian Railway company; the Shinkansen (bullet train); Sony; Uniqlo; and Softbank/Son Masayoshi. The main text also covers everyday products such as KitKat, business models in retail at supermarkets and convenience stores, and creative industries.

As described above, the boxes and diversity of coverage in types of business make the book particularly useful as a platform from which instructors in Japanese economic history, business history, or management could anchor their courses. The list of references at the end of the book also provides instructors with an excellent guide to further reading in both Japanese and English. If one were to look for areas to improve in the inevitable second edition, then I would suggest that each chapter include a short “further reading” section to further enhance the usability of individual chapters in the classroom setting. Perhaps, where possible, this could also be done with each box, which would greatly add to the convenience of instructors who choose to add individual chapters rather than the whole book to their reading lists.

Furthermore, there were a few parts where I felt that further expansion would have been welcome. Treating the Edo period in one chapter seemed quite rushed, especially given the debate and interest in this period among historians in understanding why Japan developed as Asia’s first modern industrial economy. The text also includes several interesting tables, for example, Table 1.1 (p. 16), which shows a number of firms that have existed continuously since before the year 1200, but sometimes without sufficient comment. Readers might wonder why it is that half of the businesses in Table 1.1 are hot springs, but the authors provide no comment. In various parts of the book foreign business in Japan was treated, as was the strikingly low level of foreign direct investment into Japan as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) was also highlighted (only 4.3% in 2019, when for the US it was 43.9%) (p. 213). The topic of foreign involvement in the Japanese economy will no doubt be of interest to English-speaking readers; however, the theme is not treated consistently, appearing and then disappearing in certain periods and lacking an overall synthesis.

If all one has to complain about is in reality a call for a little more on what is presented, then I think this speaks volumes for the work. Donzé and Yongue have provided us with a timely refresh on the literature on Japan in an engaging and wide-reaching study. By peopling the story of Japan’s economic change with businesses large and small, entrepreneurs and a whole host of other actors, they have provided an engrossing read and a platform for further study. This work will surely feature prominently in classes on Japan for years to come.