This book examines the relevance of some major aspects and assumptions of contemporary social and cultural theory to one society that has a very different history and conception of its self-identity from the Western ones in which the modern social sciences have almost exclusively arisen. Japan presents arguably the biggest challenge to the preoccupations and epistemiology of much conventional sociological and cultural thinking. The issue is approached through the concept of "postmodernity", which has only recently been applied to Japan. The value of this construction is explored through an examination of contemporary Japanese culture, thought, urbanism and social change to answer the question - what rethinking of social theory is necessitated by an encounter with modern Japanese society?