Japan's rapid transformation from an agrarian society to a highly industrialize modern nation has been the object in recent years of much debate and interest, particularly in the developing countries. In an effort to provide some answets to the question of how Japan was able to industrialize and achieve technological superiority so quickly, The Japanese experience in technology : from transfer to self-reliance examines technology and development in Japan beginning in the Meiji periode (1868-1912), through the critical post-war years, and up to the uncertainty and new challanges of the 1980s.