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 economy, setting a path to the so-called high economic growth period (1955–1973). Japan's average annual growth rate during this period was 9.1 percent, and Japan's gross national product (GNP) per capita ranked the second highest after the United States in 1968. Consumption played a major and vital role in realizing this rapid and what is often-described as “miraculous” economic growth. For example, many households eagerly purchased electric appliances such as washing machines, televisions, and fridge-freezers in the 1950s and 1960s. According to statistics released by the Cabinet Office, the ownership rate of fridge-freezers increased from 10.1 percent in 1960 to 89.1 percent in 1970. The first recorded entry of color televisions (0.3 percent) was only made in 1966, but by 1970, the figure had risen to 26.3 percent.

While Japan was quickly becoming a mass consumption society during the high economic growth period, rapid and aggressive economic development also caused a series of consumer problems resulting from industrial accidents, corporate malpractice, and environmental destruction. The cases of Minamata disease caused by methylmercury pollution in the 1950s, arsenic-contaminated powdered milk produced by Morinaga in 1955 as well as thalidomide in 1962, and Kanemi yusho incident (PCB-tainted oil syndrome) in 1968, to name but a few prominent examples, brought large-scale and tragic harm to many victims, including small children. These [Page 289]problems energized consumer movements, often organized by married women, which demanded that the national government implement measures to tackle consumer issues. The national government also acknowledged the need to update consumer policy to respond to the development of a more affluent mass consumer society. As a result, the Basic Law for Consumer Protection that prescribed the framework of consumer policy until the 2000s was established in 1968, while new laws such as the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act (1960), the Installment Sales Act (1961), and the Law for Preventing Unjustifiable Extra or Unexpected Benefits and Misleading Representation (1963) were introduced. In addition, the Food Sanitation Act was amended in 1957.

The government also undertook major institutional reforms of the consumer administrative system. In the early 1960s, multiple ministries set up a division to work on consumer issues, for example, the Consumer Affairs Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (1964), the Consumer Affairs Department of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (1965), and the Quality of Life Bureau of the Economic Planning Agency (1965). In addition, the government launched the National Consumer Affairs Centre of Japan (1970), whose local branches continue to provide consumer information, deal with consumer complaints, carry out product tests, and conduct consumer training programs.

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