Since the appearance of the first Japanese writings on the information society, Japan's social and economic structure has undergone considerable changes. The development and popularisation of the concept of an information society is closely linked with changes in the Japanese government's long-term industrial policy from the late 1960s onwards. In order to analyse the effects of changing technology on social relations and social conflict in Japan, it is necessary to redefine the 'information society' as 'a new stage in the development of Japanese capitalism'. An issue of particular interest is the impact of technological change on the nature of social conflict in Japan. In the early stages of the software industry, individual workers operated very much on a 'craft' basis. Two methods for ensuring a supply of this disposable work force are the secondment haken system and the use of part-time workers.