Amazon offices raided in Japan

Japanese regulators on Thursday have raided Amazon’s Tokyo headquarters on suspicion of antitrust violations. The company has come under the watchdog’s scrutiny for the second time in two years.

The Japanese Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) said the firm was suspected of improperly forcing suppliers to shoulder part of the costs incurred for selling their products at a discount. Amazon Japan said it was “fully cooperating” with the JFTC, but declined to provide any details.

In 2016, the JTFC has also raided the firm's offices on suspicions it had unfairly demanded from retailers to set prices on Amazon Japan lower than prices for those products listed on other e-commerce sites. Regulators ended the investigation last year when Amazon Japan agreed to stop the practice.

Amazon has been operating in Japan since 1998. The country was one of the first international expansions for the US firm. It is Amazon's second-largest market outside the US, after Germany, with sales of $10.8 billion in 2016.

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