Five years is a long period in the social sciences. So many changes have taken place in Japanese society since the publication of the first edition of this book in 1997 that I felt obliged to update factual data and statistical information for it to reflect Japan's contemporary landscape with accuracy. The structure and organization of the book remains unchanged since there was no need to alter the framework of analysis.

Most government ministries changed their names because of the amalgamations that took place at the beginning of 2001. In citing government publications in the References and Endnotes, I have used the names of the ministries at the time of publication.

For this edition, special thanks are due to two copy editors, Justine Norton and Karl Smith, who have kindly paid scrupulous attention to every detail of the text.

To my pleasant surprise, this book has been used in an unexpectedly large number of university courses around the world. I would be happy to receive feedback from readers to improve the quality of future editions.