This unit is one of a suite of units in economic history. The unit surveys long-term processes of growth and development in Japan, the emergence of modern Japan, and challenges the view that stagnation was a normal condition in pre-industrial Japan. It investigates conditions and paths of economic development since the second half of the 19th century and analyses the role and interaction of the state and the market in economic development. The unit also outlines Japan's role in the industrialisation of East and Southeast Asia and the spread of enterprise unionism. It assesses the extent to which models of economic development derived from the western experience have proved applicable to Japan.