In this age of high technology, Japan's success in continuous improvement and innovation in key industries, ranging from steel and automobiles to electronics, has been spectacular, and the unique institutional arrangements that have supported this success have attracted wide attention. Yet, with only a few exceptions, the discussion of Japan's innovation system has tended to be anecdotal. This book investigates Japan's current innovation system through empirical, mostly quantitative, research. The contributors, who are leading Japanese scholars on these subjects, reveal the rich and complex nature of the japanese innovation system, and describe in detail its strengths and weaknesses.