The Latest On Yahoo-Google Partnership In Japan

When Yahoo Japan and Google Japan announced its plan for search service tie-up (both organic search and PPC services) in July, Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) gave a statement that they didn’t think it would violate the Antitrust (or Competition) Law.

Last month, Rakuten submitted a report and a request to investigate the tie-up to JFTC, and now JFTC is interviewing organizations and businesses including Microsoft as a part of the investigation.
At the same time, several members of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party have formed “The Internet Search Issues Investigation Group” to create a bill to assure fair search and online advertising services by picking up issues that may not be regulated by the Antitrust Law.

Motoko Hunt

Motoko Hunt manages the SEO for all of Adobe's properties in Japan and the APAC region. Prior to joining Adobe, Motoko established AJPR in 1998; she has been providing search marketing consulting services targeting Japan and Asia to companies around the world. Her services have made a big impact on the search marketing campaigns of some of the world's most popular multi-national brands. A number of her articles have been published on industry websites and printed media including MultiLingual Computing and the International Journal of Localisation. She also writes about the Japanese online market on her blog at AJPR and contributes to several online magazines in Japan and Asia. She served as a member of the board of directors of SEMPO in 2010-2012, and is a chairperson of the SEMPO Asia-Pacific Committee.

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