The main theme of the book is the complex relationship between the
patterns of Japanese modernity and the civilizational legacy on which
they continue to grow. The author discusses the East Asian regional
context of Japanese civilization, deals with the dynamics of state
formation and the attendant cultural transformations in pre-modern
Japan, and suggests ways of comparing the Japanese experience to the
West. Presenting Japan as a test case for relating the emerging problems
of multiple modernities to civilizational perspectives, the book
examines the economic foundations as well as the philosophical
self-interpretations of Japanese modernity.