TOKYO, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Japan's Fair Trade Commission

on Tuesday conducted an on-site inspection of Amazon Japan on

suspicion of violating anti-monopoly laws, a government source

said.

The unit of Amazon.com Inc ( AMZN ) is suspected of

inappropriately urging sellers to lower their prices on its

e-commerce site in exchange for giving their products

advantageous placement on the site, the source said.

"There is a suspicion that Amazon Japan is forcing sellers

to cut prices in an irrational way," said the source, who

declined to be named as an official announcement has yet to be

issued.

Amazon Japan did not immediately respond to an email

query about the raid.

Amazon ( AMZN ) is likely to face an EU investigation next year into

whether it favours its own brand products on its online

marketplace as European antitrust regulators build up a case

under landmark rules, Reuters reported last week.

The Japanese regulator previously raided Amazon Japan in

March 2018 on suspicion of demanding suppliers to shoulder part

of the cost incurred from selling their products at a discount

on the website. The authorities accepted Amazon Japan's plan to

improve business practices in September of that year.

(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama and Kiyoshi Takenaka

Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Lincoln Feast.)