Yoshiro Miwa is Professor of Economics at the University of Tokyo and author of Japanese Trade Practices and Financial Administration Reform, both published in Japanese.

"Miwa has earned quite a name for himself in Japan for his brilliant but biting iconoclastic views. Now, Western readers will learn what the fuss has been about. Self-styled authorities on the Japanese economy will squirm, for Miwa takes no prisoners; his logic is relentless, merciless and-inevitably-right." -J. Mark Ramseyer,University of Chicago Law School "This is a monumental work, demystifying the Japanese economy and contesting the conventional view that 'Japan is different.' In doing so, Miwa paves the way for a new era of comparative study." -Kazuo Koike,Hosei University, Tokyo