Only fifty years after WWII, Japan is an influential world power and a dominant player in Asia. How did Japan rise from the ashes to become one of the world s most important powers in the international economy and what effect did it have on its people? This new book covers the emergence of the "new" Japan, following the the changes made by the Occupation (1945-52), and the enormous social and cultural consequences of this dramatic transformation. Themes covered include: - post-war politics - the economic "miracle" - the family - women - the political and economic crisis of the 1990s The author shows how Japan's economic "miracle" was closely linked to the political system put in place in 1955, and how the unravelling of this system has led the nation into uncharted waters. With the bursting of the economic bubble at the start of the 1990s and corruption scandals bringing down successive governments throughout the decade, Japan has once again been thrown into a period of revolutionary change.