What Keeps Plaintiffs Away from the Court? An Analysis of Antitrust Litigation in Japan, Europe and the US

This paper challenges the classical view on the role of litigation in Japan by examining a particular type of litigation, namely private antitrust litigation. It shows that the widely held idea that antitrust litigation in Japan is rare only holds when compared to the US, not Europe. The comparison with Europe also casts doubt on the idea that a cultural aversion to litigation explains why so few antitrust lawsuits are filed in Japan and Europe. Instead, the institutional framework and the awareness and support for antitrust law are much more important. These are malleable factors, suggesting that antitrust litigation can boom in Japan and Europe, regardless of any cultural resistance