Viewed historically as the lapdog of business, bureaucratic and political interests, Japan's Fair Trade Commission has had mixed success in promoting its agenda for stronger antimonopoly policy since the early 1970s. Dr Beeman unravels antimonopoly politics in Japan through an analysis of the diverse interests of industry, government, and other parties to reveal how and why antimonopoly policy has made important inroads yet ultimately failed to gain deep acceptance in Japan. Employing extensive use of primary research materials and numerous interviews of key participants from government and industry, Dr Beeman finds predictable patterns of change and continuity in antimonopoly policy from the perspective of legal scholars or from the narrow context of Japan's key industrial sectors. The book provides a unique insight into an agency and a policy that has often been criticized within Japan as too stringent and from outside Japan as too lax. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.