Authority without power

Across Japanese history, Haley contends, formal law has never been strong enough to do the work of keeping people in line. That gap gave rise to informal systems of control, rooted in tradition and shared agreement, which took on the job of maintaining order. Haley shows that this arrangement produced a society marked by notable steadiness, while leaving individuals, local communities and businesses a substantial measure of independence.

The book's closing argument ties these threads together. Haley shows that a legal system with limited reach has strengthened the nonlegal methods of social control already in place, and he uses this to account for many of the puzzling contradictions in Japan's political and social life today.