While foreign retailers are seeking to trade directly with Japanese manufacturers in an effort to cut costs and prices, wholesalers will continue to play a key role in the domestic distribution chain, according to Seiichiro Kojima, president of nonfood wholesaler Chuo Bussan Corp.

"Direct transactions will increase, but the practice is appropriate for dealing with only certain categories of goods -- things that are consumed in large quantities quickly," Kojima said.

In Japan, most goods pass from manufacturers to retailers via a multilayered system of wholesalers.