Introduction

This book assembles original papers on Japan’s experiences of development — with special reference to the period after the Second World War, and with a view to deriving some lessons for developing countries — written by 15 leading academicians of the Japan Society for International Development (JASID). The Society does not specialize in some narrow discipline, but, rather, is very interdisciplinary in nature. This book comprises 15 topics, as selected by the editors. We selected these 15 topics based upon two tentative principles: one is that they are more or less representative of the topics covered by the Society, and the other is that they may be of interest to readers from overseas. We think that some aspects of Japan’s development discussed in this volume have already been addressed in various books and papers, but some aspects have not, as yet. Although we cover some well-known, basic, historical facts and debates concerning the development process, we do believe readers will discover some new ideas and findings.