ABSTRACT
Over the last two decades interest in Japanese society has grown remarkably, both within Japan and overseas. This development has resulted in part from Japan's emergence as an economic power. The apparent suddenness with which Japan appeared on the world stage stimulated many to ask how Japan's 'economic miracle' was achieved. During the seventies a large number of books on Japan were published. Many of these sought to make Japan's success story seem plausible by emphasizing the ways in which Japanese national character or Japanese culture had contributed to the process of modernization. The boom in literature emphasizing one unique facet of the Japanese character or another is evident not only in Japan itself but in other countries as well. Today there are not many disciplines in the social sciences in which the uniqueness of the Japanese is not stressed by at least some.
