This innovative work demystifies the Japanese economy by considering it as a strategic system. Exploring its essential structure and dynamics, both domestic and international, Thomas M. Huber offers provocative insights into Japan's postwar economy by comparing it to Western national security and military systems rather than exclusively to Western commercial institutions.

The author highlights the remarkable similarity of "Japan, Inc." to some of the structures and policy dynamics of the U.S. military especially, but also shows how other public institutions offer useful analogies for deciphering Japanese economics.

Japan's domestic strategies are mirrored in the international realm with MITI, the Export Import Bank of Japan, JETRO, trading companies, and other agencies pursuing national policy goals. The objective of this far-flung activity is international influence, achieved by acquiring production and factors of production.