This is a classic text which presents a study of the structural forms and cultural patterns of the Japanese living in rural areas from the late feudal period to the 1960's. Particular emphasis is placed on agriculture, family life, village life, and the governmental forms of hamlet versus village. The chapter on the unchanging mentality of the Japanese farmer is very enlightening, and can be easily compared to similar attitudes of farmers throughout the world. This is a highly recommended and unfortunately out of print book which should be read by any and all students of Japanese culture and history.

First-rate brief summary of the development of Japanese society since the 1870s, scholarly but accessible and readable. It'll change the way you look at Japan. Fukutake begins by observing that Japan's feudal structures, although crumbling by the mid nineteenth century, retained enough vitality to make a big difference in the development of Japan in the modern era -- unlike what happened in Europe where modern states arose out of the ashes of a feudalism which had almost entirely disintegrated. He shows how feudal conditions were reflected in the structure of Japanese families and commerce, and how this led to the development of a unique "familistic" state -- a state whose internal contradictions brought it to start a catastrophic war of unsustainable expansion in the 1930s. Following the war, Japan moved with unprecidented speed from this post-feudal familistic structure to a modern urban industrial mass society. The strains created by this transformation are, as he shows, still working themselves out in Japan's society. The book closes with an overview of modern Japanese society and its trends and prospects, pointing out some serious problems which Japan must solve. A masterful book -- a must for anyone who wants to understand Japan and its place in the world.