A57 After the collapse of the economic bubble, the retail and dis-tribution industry was hit by a business slump that led to large trading companies taking over responsibility for convenience stores, supermarkets and other everyday life-related industries.

In 2000, Mitsubishi took a 20% stake in the major convenience store chain Lawson, Inc. from the Daiei Group, which sold off the majority of its shares in the chain as part of a plan to restore its financial health. Afterwards, Daiei received financial support from the Industrial Revitalization Corporation of Japan (IRCJ). In July 2006, the IRCJ transferred its shares in Daiei to Marubeni, a major trading company. This made Marubeni Daiei's largest shareholder, with 44.6% of the shares. Marubeni then called on the major supermarket Aeon Co. Ltd., to invest in Daiei shares and take the lead in reconstructing the company.

In 1998, Itochu bought 29.7% of the shares of the conve-nience store FamilyMart Co., Ltd. from the major supermarket chain Seiyu Co. Ltd.-making Itochu the largest shareholder in the chainstore. In 2000, Sumitomo Corp. took on responsibil-ity for increasing its capital in Seiyu and became its largest share-holder. In addition, it acted as a go-berween for the major U.S. retailer Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., which provided capital and management expertise, and subsequently acquired Seiyu.