ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the ideational contestation between the two major industrial associations (business lobbies) since the early 1990s, the persistent systemic support and in-group favoritism in Japanese corporate governance under financial globalization, and the dynamics between the equity and credit markets. While members of the anti-free market camp in Japan are connected by both formal (institutionalized) and informal (personal) ties, those of the market liberalization camp tend to rely more on informal ties. Nobuteru Kikuchi, an expert in Japanese industrial associations, defines an industrial association as a federation of companies or corporate executives that coordinates the interests and opinions of its members and exerts influence over the political economy. Japanese management–labor relations at most large firms have become cooperative since the management of Mitsui Mining, supported by Nikkeiren, defeated the radical labor union in the largest post-war labor dispute in 1960.
