He also finds it hard to understand how the Japanese firm and particularly the trading company can at the same time deal with his firm and that of his competitor simultaneously. What we consider "conflicts of interest" are apparently not so regarded in Japan, for we are more accustomed to the exclusivity of relationships particularly where a manufacturer and his independent sales agent are concerned. A third and very fundamental difference is the relationship between business and government. In the U. S. we function under a set of rules formulated by the government and indeed by a government not too sensitive to the wishes of the business community. Except for the handful of regulated industries like the railroads, public utilities, and airlines, business is relatively free to function under the broad rules and the government does not participate in the day-by-day decisions of a company. Our anti-trust laws severly limit the joint action of companies or industries. This is in sharp contrast to the relationship between business and government agencies in Japan where it appears to us that the two work very closely together. It is a common impression amoung U. S. companies that Japanese companies have the sensitive ear of the government agencies and that these government agencies act as an ally in helping the Japanese Company gain advantages that it could not obtain by its own bargaining. There is a widespread feeling that the Japanese government agencies by withholding consent or attaching conditions to it deny the American firms a fair play in doing business in Japan or in arriving at joint agreements with Japanese firms. Japanese firms have a freedom to do business in the