This
paper looks at reasons why it has been difficult for many American companies to
penetrate the Japanese export market in the past. It discusses how, over three decades, the Japanese laws and regulations created barriers to entry, by culturally binding allegiance and employing strategies such as cross-shareholding which favor
keiretsu (local industrial groups). Officially, Japan's policy is to promote imports, but in practice this was often not the case. This paper focuses on how the American
markets have been able to penetrate the Japanese markets with their sale of spirits.