The perspective in most previous studies of the Japanese prewar state and society has been from the top down. In this book the perspective is shifted by giving more attention to the attitudes and action of groups at lower levels of society.

The focus of Society and the State in Interwar Japan is on the interaction between social groups and governmental policies - the nexus between social and political history. In seeking explanations of the coincidence or divergence between governmental and non-governmental goals, various factors are considered, such as the role of nationalism, class, gender and race.

The ideas and activities of a number of new social and political groups are explored, such as the urban white-collar class (including middle-class working women), socialists, industrial workers and immmigrant Koreans. The result is a questioning of the myth of Japanese homogeneity and an emphasis on the diversity, cross currents and sociopolitical tensions that characterise the period.