The Historical Background of Japan's Antimonopoly Law

Abstract:     
In this article, Professors Alex Seita and Jiro Tamura trace the historical background of a contentious issue in United States-Japan economic relation – Japan’s enforcement of its antimonopoly law. The perspective prevailing in the United States is well known: Japan has inadequately enforced its antimonopoly law and thereby impaired American access to the Japanese domestic trade and investment markets. Americans, however, remain largely uninformed about Japanese views on this subject. Professors Seita and Tamura endeavor to explain the apparent reluctance of the Japanese to enforce the antimonopoly law by exploring the history of prewar competition policies in Japan, the changing antitrust objectives of the American occupation in the years following World War II, and conditions within and without Japan during the early years of the antimonopoly law (1947-53). Japan’s largely favorable experiences with cartelization in the past, the manner in which the antimonopoly law was forced upon the Japanese, and the legal limitations of the antimonopoly law itself must all be addressed if future American criticism is to serve a constructive function.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 72

Keywords: Antimonopoly, monopoly, Japan, cartel

Accepted Paper Series