Japan Business Federation


Japan Business Federation is an economic organization founded in May 2002 by amalgamation of Keidanren and Nikkeiren, with Nikkeiren being absorbed into Keidanren.
The federation is commonly referred to as "Keidanren", its 1,601 members consist of 1,281 companies, 129 industrial associations, and 47 regional economic organizations.
For most of the post-war period, Keidanren has been the voice of big business in Japan and is generally considered the most conservative of the country's three major private sector led business associations. The other two organizations are the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Japan Association of Corporate Executives.
According to the organization's official website, the mission of the Keidanren is to: accelerate growth of Japan's and world economy and to strengthen the corporations to create additional value to transform Japanese economy into one that is sustainable and driven by the private sector, by encouraging the idea of individuals and local communities.
The current chairman is Hiroaki Nakanishi of Hitachi. He has been chairman of The Japan Business Federation since May 2018.

Political donations

Keidanren and its predecessor bodies had a long history of providing substantial political donations to the Liberal Democratic Party. In the lead-up to the 2009 general election the Democratic Party of Japan made a pledge to ban political donations from companies and organizations. After the DPJ victory in that election, Keidanren stopped making political donations.

View on consumption tax

Keidanren supports the Noda governments efforts to raise Japan's consumption tax from 5% to 10%. It has called in the past for the consumption tax to be raised even higher, to 15%.

Views on nuclear power

After the March 11th nuclear disaster and subsequent shutdown of all the nuclear plants in Japan, Keidanren called for their restart. This view was not shared by all business leaders, with Rakuten president Hiroshi Mikitani leaving the federation partly over this issue. Masayoshi Son of Softbank publicly objected to the focus on restarting the nuclear plants, but didn't leave the federation over it.

Changes to board composition

In 2002, when Keidanren took on its current form, two-thirds of its 18 vice-chairmen were from manufacturing companies. As of July 2012, only 8 of the 18 are filled by executives of manufacturers.

Yahoo! Japan

was a founding member of Rakuten CEO Hiroshi Mikitani's Japan e-business association in February 2010, but after Rakuten withdrew from Keidanren in June 2011 and made moves to become the Japan Association of New Economy as a rival to Keidanren, Yahoo! Japan withdrew from the e-business association in March 2012. It joined Keidanren in July 2012.

Current board

Below are the lists of Presidents, Chairmen, Vice-presidents and Vice-chairmen of Japan Business Federation.
TitleNameAffiliation
ChairmanSadayuki SakakibaraChairman of Toray Industries
Vice-chairmanYoji OhashiChairman of All Nippon Airways
Vice-chairmanHiromichi IwasaPresident & CEO of Mitsui Fudosan
Vice-chairmanKatsuaki WatanabeVice-chairman of Toyota
Vice-chairmanAtsutoshi NishidaChairman of Toshiba
Vice-chairmanShoji MuneokaRepresentative Director and President of Nippon Steel Corporation
Vice-chairmanTakashi KawamuraRepresentative Executive Officer, Chairman and CEO and Board Director of Hitachi Ltd
Vice-chairmanMasahiro SakaneChairman of Komatsu Limited
Vice-chairmanSatoshi MiuraPresident & CEO of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation
Vice-chairmanYorihiko KojimaChairman of Mitsubishi Corporation
Vice-chairmanNobuo KuroyanagiChairman of The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ
Vice-chairmanNorio KatsumataChairman of Marubeni
Vice-chairmanMutsutake OtsukaChairman of East Japan Railway Company
Vice-chairmanKatsutoshi SaitoChairman of Dai-ichi Life
Vice-chairmanMasayuki OkuChairman of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group
Vice-chairmanKoji MiyaharaChairman of NYK
Vice-chairmanHideaki OmiyaPresident of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Vice-chairmanYoshio NakamuraSecretary-General of Japan Business Federation
Vice-chairman--

TitleNameAffiliation
Council ChairFumiaki WatariAdvisor of JX Holdings
Vice-chairmanYu NomaguchiHonorary Adviser of Mitsubishi Electric
Vice-chairmanYoshiya HaraSenior Advisor Head Office of Daiwa Securities Group
Vice-chairmanNaotake OkuboBoard Counsel of Sekisui Chemical
Vice-chairmanAkihiko IdeChairman of Mitsubishi Materials Corporation
Vice-chairmanTsuneji UchidaPresident of Canon
Vice-chairmanNorio YamaguchiChairman of Ajinomoto
Vice-chairmanKazuhisa ShinodaPresident of Oji Paper Company
Vice-chairmanGo OjitaChairman of Asahi Group Holdings
Vice-chairman:ja:芦田昭充|Ashida AkimitsuChairman of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines
Vice-chairmanKunio IshiharaChairman of Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd.
Vice-chairmanKaoru YanoChairman of NEC
Vice-chairmanAtsushi KameiPresident of Ito-Yokado
Vice-chairmanFumio OhtsuboPresident of Panasonic Corporation
Vice-chairmanShinzo MaedaChairman of Shiseido
Vice-chairmanSusumu KatoPresident of Sumitomo Corporation
Vice-chairmanEiza KobayashiChairman of Itochu Corporation

Past officeholders

OrderPast presidentAffiliationTenure
1Hiroshi OkudaToyotaMay 2002 - May 2006
2Mitarai FujioCanonMay 2006 - May 2010
3Hiromasa YonekuraSumitomo ChemicalMay 2010 - May 2014