Japanese companies are household names throughout the world, and the economy vies with America as the greatest in the world. But how much do we really know about the forces that have made this possible? Penny Francks has written this book especially for readers without prior knowledge of the subject, and she has based it on the premise that it is vital to know something about Japanese life in order to study the economic, political and social aspects of its economic development. The book traces the roots of the Japanese post-war miracle, looking behind the international influence of Japanese business to the millions of ordinary workers in factories, in workshops, and on farms, who have made it possible. How have their lives changed over the hundred years of industrialisation? Is the Japanese work ethic uniquely equipped for such a challenge, or could the Japanese example be extended to today's Third World? This lively book mixes detailed case study mateial with description and analysis of Japanese economic and social history, and it presents a comparative survey of the development experience in the rest of the world. It will appeal to students and scholars in development studies, politics, economics, modern history and Japanese studies.