As the world's only major industrial society yet to emerge from outside the Western tradition, Japan has evolved into an industrial state very different from those of the West. Robert Smith argues that this difference is found not so much in organisational and institutional forms as in the Japanese view of the relationship of individuals to one another and to society as a whole. He traces the origin of this difference to the historical traditions of Japan, which rest on cultural premises quite unlike those of the Western world. His compelling and convincing analysis of contemporary Japanese society has far-reaching implications for our understanding of the nature of the modern industrial world.