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The opening of Japan to Western influence in the Meiji era is one of the most important subjects in Japanese Studies, and this text argues that it is central to an understanding of modern Japan. There were many dimensions to this transformation including the re-opening of trading and diplomatic links, but the opening of Japan to modern Western ideas was at least as important. No area had greater significance than economics. This set collects together some of the most important and influential economics texts from the age of the "Japanese Enlightenment". The understanding of Western economics in Japan was founded on Japanese translations of these seminal books, which although they did not change the course of economic thinking had a marked impact on Japanese economic development. As examples of successful, 19th-century economics textbooks they are also of great relevance to anyone interested in the dissmenation of economic ideas during this period. The set is introduced by Hiroshi Mizuta, joint editor of "Political Economy Comes to Japan", a study of the diffusion of western economics in Japan during the Meiji period. This collection: explains some of the distinctive features of Japanese economic thinking during the Meiji period; makes available books which are rare even in Europe; provides material on 19th-century economic pedagogy; and includes a transcript of Boissonade's newspaper article "L'Economie politique au Japan" (1876).