Glenn Hook is Director of the Graduate School of East Asian Studies and Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK.

• Introduction - Contested Governance in Japan: Modes, sites and issues Part 1 Sites of Governance 1. Global Governance, the G7/8 Summit and Japan 2. Japan's Role in Emerging East Asian Governance: Regional and national implications 3. Governance, Democracy and the Political Economy of the Japanese State 4. Local Governance: The role of referenda and the rise of independent governors 5. Governance, Globalization and the Japanese Financial System: Resistance or restructuring? 6. Koizumi's 'Robust Policy': Governance, the Japanese welfare employment regime and comparative gender studies Part 2 Issues of Governance 7. Japan and Global Environmental Governance 8. Governance, Asian Migrants and the role of Civil Society 9. Corruption and Governance in Japan 10. Whose Problem? Japan's homeless people as an issue of local and central governance 11. The Political Economy of Japanese 'Corporate Governance': A metaphor for capitalist rationalization 12. Governance though the Family: The political function of the domestic in Japan

'Hook provides a very worthwhile, carefully-constructed and readable introduction to the major themes in both sections and draws the readers attention to the links between the wide-ranging offerings. The writing throughout is clear and concise and jargon is kept to a minimum. The overall result is a densely packed but deeply satisfying book that repays careful reading.' -Asian Studies, Nov 2006