Consumer Policy (Japan)

Consumer policy in Japan began under U.S. occupation in 1947 with the Prohibition of Private Monopolization and Maintenance of Fair Trade Act (commonly known as the Anti-Monopoly Act) and the Food Sanitation Act. Reflecting the struggling economic state of the late 1940s and early 1950s, in which, as John Dower describes in his book Embracing Defeat, unemployment was a major issue and a strict retrenchment policy was implemented, the initial development of consumer policy was slow. Only two more sets of laws were added during this period, namely the Japanese Agricultural Standards Act (JAS Act) of 1950 and the Regulations for Receiving Capital Subscriptions, Deposits, and Interest on Deposits Act of 1954.

The break out of the Korean War (1950–1953) changed the course of the Japanese ...