Raphael Kaplinsky and Dirk Messner have launched an important project on “The Impact of Asian Drivers on the Developing World,” in a special issue of World Development (36, 2, 2008). The central issue is the impact of the surging economies of China and India on the world economy. Japan Focus reprints their introduction to the issues, and a comment by R. Taggart Murphy on “New Asian Drivers, Japan, Korea and the Lessons of History” that raises historical issues with particular respect to Japan and Korea, including the impact on the world economy of these earlier developments, and the nature of their rise in global perspective. In future articles we hope to extend this discussion with respect to other issues pertaining to the impact of Chinese and Indian development on the Asian regional and global economy, and the impact on Chinese and Indian societies of the development paths chosen. We also draw attention to Giovanni Arrighi's contribution on “Historical Perspectives on States, Markets and Capitalism, East and West.”