＞## 2. Evidence that MOF’s guidance overrode corporate‑group decisions The merger between Sakura Bank (formerly Mitsui Bank) and Sumitomo Bank is the clearest example.
＞From the perspective of corporate‑group logic, such a merger should have been unthinkable.
＞Yet once the MOF’s Banking Bureau instructed them to merge across *zaibatsu* boundaries, **the corporate groups had no veto power.**
＞This demonstrates conclusively that corporate groups were under the MOF’s indirect control through the banking system.
＞## 3. Why Nippon Steel was able to grow: the presence of a “counter‑power” in MITI
＞Nippon Steel did not belong to any specific corporate group and was therefore relatively free from MOF control.
＞However, because banks—ultimately under MOF influence—controlled its financing, Nippon Steel should have been at a disadvantage.
＞Yet Nippon Steel grew to **three times the size of Sumitomo Metal Industries**, which enjoyed full *zaibatsu* backing.
＞This was possible because:
＞- **Nippon Steel had the support of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI, now METI).** ＞- **MITI possessed enormous regulatory authority over plant‑location approvals and environmental regulations affecting corporate‑group companies.**
＞Thus, even banks backed by the MOF could not easily oppose Nippon Steel.
＞Nippon Steel became:
＞**the only major corporation that survived by leveraging the power balance between MOF and MITI.**
1
0
＞## 2. Evidence that MOF’s guidance overrode corporate‑group decisions
The merger between Sakura Bank (formerly Mitsui Bank) and Sumitomo Bank is the clearest example.
＞From the perspective of corporate‑group logic, such a merger should have been unthinkable.
＞Yet once the MOF’s Banking Bureau instructed them to merge across *zaibatsu* boundaries, **the corporate groups had no veto power.**
＞This demonstrates conclusively that corporate groups were under the MOF’s indirect control through the banking system.
https://gyazo.com/f206f5340b154a5ce5b0a79021579eea
＞---
＞## 3. Why Nippon Steel was able to grow: the presence of a “counter‑power” in MITI
＞Nippon Steel did not belong to any specific corporate group and was therefore relatively free from MOF control.
＞However, because banks—ultimately under MOF influence—controlled its financing, Nippon Steel should have been at a disadvantage.
＞Yet Nippon Steel grew to **three times the size of Sumitomo Metal Industries**, which enjoyed full *zaibatsu* backing.
＞This was possible because:
＞- **Nippon Steel had the support of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI, now METI).**
＞- **MITI possessed enormous regulatory authority over plant‑location approvals and environmental regulations affecting corporate‑group companies.**
＞Thus, even banks backed by the MOF could not easily oppose Nippon Steel.
＞Nippon Steel became:
＞**the only major corporation that survived by leveraging the power balance between MOF and MITI.**
https://gyazo.com/3f2616431951dc8a67eecb739e6dbdff