From the commercial and industrial transformation of Osaka in the late nineteenth century, to the role and status of Japanese multinationals in Europe, as well as such topics as 'the future of Toyotism', are representative of the issues both with regard to the time-span and the breadth of this volume which draws on the key papers given at the 1994 triennial conference of the European Association of Japanese Studies, held in Copenhagen. Contributors from East and West Europe as well as Japan enhance the value of this in-depth study.