INTRODUCTION: The question remains to be elucidated: "Is treatment with antidepressants at doses approved in Japan effective for Japanese patients with MDD?" It is crucial to confirm this in order to provide appropriate treatments for Japanese patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and random-effects pairwise meta-analysis including these nine double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials. METHODS: We calculated the standardized mean difference (SMD) and risk ratio (RR) with a 95% confidence interval (95% CI). RESULTS: Pooled newer antidepressants outperformed placebo regarding improvement of depressive symptom scale scores [SMD (95% CI) = -0.20 (-0.27, -0.12), p < 0.00001], response to treatment [RR (95% CI) = 1.23 (1.13, 1.32), p < 0.00001], and remission rate [RR (95% CI) = 1.30 (1.16, 1.45), p < 0.00001]. Although all-cause discontinuation was not significantly different between the treatment groups, the pooled antidepressant group showed a higher discontinuation rate due to adverse event [RR (95% CI) = 1.60 (1.13, 2.26), p = 0.007] and a higher incidence of at least one adverse event than the placebo group [RR (95% CI) = 1.13 (1.08, 1.18), p < 0.00001]. DISCUSSION: We concluded that newer antidepressants are effective for Japanese adults with MDD although the clinicians must monitor the health conditions of these individuals.