Japan's anti-monopoly watchdog has approved a tie-up between Yahoo Japan (YAHOY) and Google (GOOG), but warned it will keep checking for possible violations.

The commission said Thursday that it didn't see any violations as long as the two companies continued to be separate and offered distinctive services.

Yahoo Japan has said it plans to launch a search service using Google's search and advertising technology in Japan by the end of this year.

Online shopping site Rakuten (RKUNF) had asked the Fair Trade Commission to look into the deal, announced in July, to see if the partnership might hinder competition and growth in the Japanese Internet.