In the Meiji period, Japan began to manufacture various products of modern industries such as cotton yarn, paper, or refined suger which had formerly been imported from abroad. In the fields of trade and shipping as well, Japanese enterprises started to replace foreign companies. We may call the phenomena the replacement by Japanese national enterprises.
The case was different with the field of life insurance, where foreign companies entered into the Japanese market already cultivated by Japanese companies. The first Japanese life insurence company was established in 1871, followed by many others until about 1890. The foreign companies of those days had agents in Japan and did business mainly for foreign residents. Two American and two Canadian companies, authorized to enter the Japanese market about 1900, expanded their amount of insurance in force rapidly by selling insurance with tontine allottment. Since tontine offered high-rate allottment at maturity instead of annual allottment, it became popular among wealthy people. Foreign companies occupied for more than 10% of the Japanese market in 1904-06. They gradually reduced their activities thereafter, because American companies were prohibited from allotting tontine by the Insurance Law of New York State. On the other hand, some Japanese companies adopted the method as it was not prohibited by the Japanese Insurance Law, causing a considerable damage to American companies. In the 1910's an American company withdrew from the field and the share of other foreign companies decreased yearly.
We intended here to find out the foreign companies which had agents in Japan since 1870, the exact date when five companies started their business for the Japanese, the reason for their success and their eventual withdrawal from Japan.
