Zaib Atsu

Summary of Zaib Atsu

Industrial and financial combines that arose in Japan in the late nineteenth century and dominated the Japanese economy until the end of World War II. Prior to their dissolution by the Allied powers after the war, the four big zaibatsu (Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Yasuda) collectively controlled almost 25 percent of the paid-up capital of all firms, including more than 32 percent of heavy industries and almost 50 percent of all financial institutions. As part of a program of democratization and as a stimulus to Japanese industry, the zaibatsu were broken up by the occupation authorities. The Anti- monopoly Law of 1947 was adopted to prevent a recurrence of zaibatsu-type combines; the act precluded interlocking directorates and significant certified holding companies, and prohibited domination of the financial sector by any firm or group of firms. The act has since been relaxed, giving rise to corporate families, known as keiritsu.

(Main Author: William J. Miller)