Based on surveys of two Japanese factories and two British ones conducted in 1969.

The Japanese way of work is notoriously 'different'. But is it Japan or Britain which is the odd man out? This book explores the real differences through a point-by-point comparison of two Japanese factories with two British ones making similar products.

This study has been stimulated by an interest in developments since the comparative studies of organization, management and industrial relations in Ronald Dore's "British Factory-Japanese Factory". It examines the background of changes in the home and host economy/society.

The spectacular changes that have occurred since World War II, occupation, and the achievement of industrial parity is meshed with revealing portraits of how the hamlet is structured, how it works, and what it means to live in this most elemental and formative of all Japanese social entities.