This project examines the rhetoric and reality of corporate governance reform in Japan. It will employ a three-pronged research methodology, involving interviews of managers, statistical analysis of firm-level data on board of director size and structure, cross-shareholding, and executive compensation, and an analysis of the rhetoric of press reports on corporate governance since 1990. Corporate governance reform is a global issue: while this project will focus most closely on Japan, I will compare the Japanese experience with corporate governance reform with that of Europe and the United States. This project will offer insight into the process by which economic change is being negotiated and contested, and a better understanding into the Japanese and world economies as they enter the 21st century.