This essay introduces the articles in a special edition on advances made in the Japanese innovation system. It sets the papers against a broad overview of traditional Japanese approaches to innovation and recent calls for change. An analysis is made of the geography of high‐technology factories and recent job losses in the manufacturing sector. The new policies and their impact on Japan’s national and regional innovation systems are then outlined and a synopsis given of the other papers in this special edition. The essay makes a number of concluding remarks on the appropriateness of Japan following the US‐model of innovation.