Taisei, Kajima case: Could one Supreme Court justice change how Japan proves cartels?
By Sachiko Sakamaki ( September 25, 2026, 07:09 GMT | Comment) -- Japan's Supreme Court upheld Taisei and Kajima’s criminal convictions for rigging bids on maglev bullet-train stations last week. But one justice’s call for closer scrutiny of whether the four major contractors actually competed could affect how Japan’s competition watchdog and prosecutors build their cases in the future and how courts review them. Disputes over whether competition existed may be uncommon in antitrust cases, but the justice's opinion raises questions about whether the Japan Fair Trade Commission will need to do more to establish it in future hard-core cartel cases.Japan's Supreme Court upheld Taisei and Kajima’s criminal convictions for rigging bids on maglev bullet-train stations last week. But one justice’s call for closer scrutiny of whether the four major contractors actually competed could affect how Japan’s competition watchdog and prosecutors build their cases in the future and how courts review them. Disputes over whether competition existed may be uncommon in antitrust cases, but the justice's opinion raises questions about whether the Japan Fair Trade Commission, or JFTC, will need to do more to establish it in future hard-core cartel cases....
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