This book surveys the subject indicated by its title. Hirohisa Kohama, who is Professor of Economics in the International Relations faculty of Shizuoka University, brings a development economics focus to his work, understanding Japan before the 1960s as a developing or newly industrializing country (p. 1). This approach seems promising, but the analysis that follows is not explicitly comparative except in passing instances. (Readers who want such an approach can turn to Akira Suehiro, Catch-Up Industrialization: The Trajectory and Prospects of East Asian Economies, transl. by Tom Gill; Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2008.) Kohama's work is based on secondary sources rather than primary research. It is not a comprehensive, synthetic history of the kind offered, for example, in the numerous works of Nakamura Takafusa (e.g., Lectures on Modern Japanese Economic History, 1926-1994. Tokyo: LTCB International Library Foundation, 1994), to which those new to the subject should turn first. Rather, it is mainly an industry-by-industry summation, with individual chapters of 15 or 20 pages each on textiles, steel, chemicals, machinery, electrical and electronic goods, shipbuilding, and automobiles. These sections are where the real substance of the book lies. They are well supported by citations but reduced in value by not being fully situated relative to existing scholarly discussion, which is abundant. There are no surprises here, but interesting facts, for example, about the great scale of the government's planned shipbuilding program. Much can be gleaned from the useful tables and figures, of which there are more than 100. In most cases, the data presented has been brought up to 2002 or 2003, although in some cases the data stops in the 1990s or earlier. There is no real discussion of the period since the collapse of the great bubble, so readers hoping for an account of major recent developments in Japanese industry will be disappointed. The coverage is generally stronger on the period of High-Speed Growth (1955-1973) than on the period since, though the discussion often ranges fairly loosely across periods.

Much of the text, which is clearly written, consists of explication of the tables. Sometimes it consists of the sort of material that might be put into notes at the end of an appendix, although it is here rendered more discursively. This aspect of the text overwhelms any theoretical or narrative framework, neither of which is provided in a sustained way. In this too, this book compares unfavorably to available English-language surveys by Nakamura and others, which actually do need updating in light of developments since the long recession of the 1990s. (For one introduction to the macroeconomic side of that, Mark Metzler, “Toward a Financial History of Japan's Long Stagnation, 1991-2003.” Journal of Asian Studies 67, no. 2 [2008]: 653-74.) For detailed statistically based discussion, specialist readers will probably find it more profitable to turn directly to the excellent economic white papers published annually by the Japanese government (Annual Report on Japan's Economy and Public Finance. Tokyo: Cabinet Office, Government of Japan) and to the white papers on trade and industry produced by the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (http://www.meti.go.jp/english/report/index.html).

The seven industry surveys are book-ended by introductory and concluding chapters on Japanese development. These will cover little new ground for the specialist readers who may find other sections of this book useful. The concluding chapter jumps back in time to the beginning of the story, providing a capable discussion of the immediate postwar period. Narratively, this is the strongest part of the book, but it will be simple repetition for readers who have read any of the many general accounts of the economic history of the period. This final section too is drawn from secondary sources, giving it the feel of a textbook (although it would not be suitable for classroom use). The concluding “policy implications for the developing countries” (pp. 199-201) come as a non sequitur and are too brief and general to provide much basis for consideration. This reader was left unsure how to define the book's audience or main arguments.