The Saitama Saturday Club Case: Political Meddling, Public Opinion, and Antitrust Enforcement in Japan at a Turning Point

Abstract

SUMMARY

This article tells the story of the Saitama Saturday Club case and how it changed antitrust enforcement in Japan. Although often cited as an example of failed antitrust enforcement, the case actually had a lasting and positive impact in many unexpected ways. It opposed Japan’s antitrust enforcement agency to the country’s mighty construction industry. For years, the construction companies had rigged bids for public works in Saitama Prefecture. Although these practices clearly violated Japan’s Antimonopoly Act, they went largely unpunished. Indeed, when the Japan Fair Trade Commission finally uncovered the violation, it decided not to bring criminal charges and instead handled the case with a trifling administrative penalty. But this docile treatment triggered a public backlash. Angry citizens sued the construction companies for damages, an unprecedented move that would subsequently be replicated in over eighty other cases throughout Japan. More broadly, the case heightened public awareness of the evils of bid-rigging and galvanized popular support for more robust antitrust enforcement. In turn, this support enabled the Japan Fair Trade Commission to move against entrenched interests and gradually step up enforcement, an evolution that continues to this day. In this sense, the Saitama Saturday Club case constituted a turning point for antitrust enforcement in Japan.