ABSTRACT
Once Japanese industrialization began around the mid-1880s, the number of joint-stock companies rapidly increased, in part due to the progress of company legislation, and modern company institutions prevailed within Japanese big business by the early 1900s. One wonders if an Anglo-Saxon style of corporate governance was widely present at the early stage of Japanese industrialization. Osaka Cotton Spinning Company, Toyo Cotton Spinning Company was established in Osaka in 1882, and was the first mechanized cotton spinning enterprise in Japan to become an entrepreneurial success. As major stockholders, Fujita and Matsumoto were elected as the first president and director respectively. Nippon Life was a life insurance company established in the city of Osaka in 1889. The chapter discusses the Japanese corporate governance structure in the period from the end of the 19th century to the First World War, when Japan's industrialization successfully began, through the case studies of Osaka Cotton Spinning and Nippon Life Assurance.
