ABSTRACT
BEFORE the beginning of the Showa Era (1926) the economic life of Japan excited very little interest in the West. The artistic, religious, and political history of the country was the subject of serious study and of journalistic comment; but finance, industry, and trade received only cursory treatment. During the last ten or twelve years, however, eyes have been drawn to this hitherto neglected section of Japanese life, and there has appeared an enormous number of books, articles, and official reports in Europe and America which purport to describe the activities of the Japanese in the ordinary business of life, and especially to explain the causes of the great expansion of foreign trade and industry that has occurred in that country. Some of the detailed information provided by these studies has penetrated into the public consciousness of Western countries; but the general picture is still exceedingly confused in its composition. This is largely because the attention given to Japanese industry in the Press has been spasmodic, for interest has been aroused only on occasions when Japan’s industry, through some special development, has happened to impinge on the markets of Western countries. Obviously, to regard as significant only those trades which are the rivals of Western manufactures is to give a distorted picture of the country’s economic life.
