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November 19, 2012

[SSJ: 7842] 17 DEC [Temple ICAS Event] Regis Arnaud: The US Antitrust Authorities vs. Japan Inc.

From: ICAS
Date: 2012/11/19

* Feel free to circulate this invitation to friends or colleagues.

Regis Arnaud: The US Antitrust Authorities vs. Japan Inc.

Date: Monday, December 17, 2012
Time:7:00p.m. (Talk will start at 7:30p.m.)
Venue: Temple University, Japan Campus, Azabu Hall
212/213
(access: http://www.tuj.ac.jp/maps/tokyo.html)
Speaker: Regis Arnaud, Japan correspondent, Le Figaro and La Tribune
Moderator: Robert Dujarric, ICAS Director Admission:Free (Open to general public) Language:English
RSVP: icas@tuj.temple.edu
*If you RSVP you are automatically registered. If possible, we ask you to RSVP but we always welcome participants even you do not RSVP.


Overview

The US Department of Justice is currently running what it calls "the biggest antitrust lawsuit in history", targeting the auto parts industry. Most of the targeted companies so far are Japanese part makers from Nagoya.
Some of the most famous names in the industry (Yazaki,
Denso,.) have already had to pay massive fines, and have seen some of their managers incarcerated in America for sentences running up to 2 years, the longest ever given to a foreigner in an antitrust case in the US. And it is not over. Soon, the EU antitrust body will announce new fines. The Japan Fair Trade Commission itself has also issued its biggest fine in history on Yazaki. Yet this issue is barely covered by the Japanese press, and even by the American press.
Surprisingly, the supposed victims of these cartels (Toyota, Honda, Nissan.), who had to pay their supplies at inflated prices, have been astoundingly silent.

This reflects the unpreparedness of Japanese companies in a globalized regulatory environment and also a culture of connivance (or cooperation) rather than competition. It is a fascinating story that affects business and also has cultural and social aspects.

Speaker

Regis Arnaud arrived in 1995 in Japan. He worked for 16 months at the French embassy, then joined the Ota Patents law firm. He later became a reporter at Agence France Presse and Bloomberg. In 2002, he became the Japan correspondent for Le Figaro and La Tribune, as well as editor of France Japon Eco, the magazine of the French chamber of commerce in Japan. His work appears regularly in other media, most notably Newsweek Japan and the Oriental Economist. He is also a film producer, most recently CUT, a 2011 feature film directed by Amir Naderi which opened the same year at the Venice Film Festival.

________________________________

Robert Dujarric
Director
Kyle Cleveland
Associate Director
Eriko Kawaguchi
Coordinator

Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies
Temple University, Japan Campus
http://www.tuj.ac.jp/icas/

ICAS Facebook: www.tuj.ac.jp/icas/facebook

Maps are available at http://www.tuj.ac.jp/maps/.

Approved by ssjmod at 11:49 AM