The is an economic organization founded in May 2002 by amalgamation of Keidanren (, Japan Federation of Economic Organizations, established 1946; name sometimes used alone as abbreviation for whole organization) and Nikkeiren (, Japan Federation of Employers' Associations, established 1948), 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 (as of June 15, 2010).

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 business associations. The other two organizations are the (日本商工会議所) and the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (経済同友会).

According to the organization's official website, the mission of the Keidanren is to accelerate growth of Japan's and the world's economy, and to strengthen the corporations to create additional value to transform the Japanese economy into one that is sustainable and driven by the private sector by encouraging the ideas of individuals and local communities.

The current chairman is Yoshinobu Tsutsui of Nippon Life. He has been chairman since May 2025.

Views

View on consumption tax

Keidanren supported the Noda government's efforts to raise Japan's consumption tax from 5% to 10%. It had previously called for the consumption tax to be raised even higher, to 15%.

Views on nuclear power

After the March 11 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.

Political donations for the LDP

The Keidanren regularly conducts political donations to the dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) pledged to ban corporate and organizational political donations during the 2009 general election to address public concerns over legislative influence. Following their victory, Keidanren initially suspended its donation programs. However, the DPJ failed to codify a total ban due to internal funding scandals and the continued use of legal loopholes. While direct giving to individuals was prohibited, organizations utilized political party branches to route funds to lawmakers.

The failure to enact these reforms, coupled with the government's response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, caused a significant decline in public support. In the 2012 general election, the DPJ suffered a massive defeat, losing over three-quarters of its seats. The LDP subsequently returned to power and maintained the existing donation system. Despite 2024 legislative updates that lowered disclosure thresholds for fundraising events, corporate contributions remain legal in Japanese politics.

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.

{| class="wikitable"

!Title!!Name!!Affiliation

|-

|Chairman||Yoshinobu Tsutsui||Executive Advisor, Nippon Life Insurance Company

|-

|rowspan="19"|Vice-Chair||Akiyoshi Koji|| Honorary Chairman, Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd.

|-

|Tsuyoshi Nagano|| Senior Executive Advisor, Tokio Marine

|-

|Nobuhiro Endo|| Executive Advisor, NEC Corporation

|-

|Hideki Kobori|| Chairman & Director, Asahi Kasei

|-

|Koji Nagai||Chairman of the Board, Nomura Holdings

|-

|Jun Sawada||Executive Chairman, NTT, Inc.

|-

|Takehiko Kakiuchi||Chairman of the Board, Mitsubishi Corporation

|-

|Seiji Izumisawa||Chairman of the Board, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

|-

|Yumiko Noda||Chairman & Representative Director, Veolia Japan

|-

|Hironori Kamezawa||President & Group CEO, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group

|-

|Hitoshi Nagasawa||Chairman, Director, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha

|-

|Makoto Takashima||Chairman of the Board, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group

|-

|Masayuki Hyodo||Chairman of the Board, Sumitomo Corporation

|-

|Kenichiro Yoshida||Director & Executive Chairman, Sony Group Corporation

|-

|Hiroyuki Ogawa||Chairman of the Board, Komatsu Limited

|-

|Takahito Tokita||Representative Director, CEO, Fujitsu

|-

|Masahiro Kihara||President & CEO, Mizuho Financial Group

|-

|Koji Sato||President & CEO, Toyota Motor Corporation

|-

|Masakazu Kubota||President & Director General, Keidanren

|-

|}

Past officeholders

{| class="wikitable"

|+Japan Business Federation

!Order!!Past president!!Affiliation!!Tenure

|-

|style="text-align:center"|1||Hiroshi Okuda||Toyota||May 2002 – May 2006

|-

|style="text-align:center"|2||Mitarai Fujio||Canon||May 2006 – May 2010

|-

|style="text-align:center"|3||Hiromasa Yonekura||Sumitomo Chemical||May 2010 – May 2014

|-

|style="text-align:center"|4||Sadayuki Sakakibara

|Toray Industries

|June 2014 – May 2018

|-

|style="text-align:center"|5||Hiroaki Nakanishi||Hitachi||May 2018 – June 2021

|-

|style="text-align:center"|6||Masakazu Tokura

||Sumitomo Chemical||June 2021–May 2025

|-

|style="text-align:center"|7||Yoshinobu Tsutsui||Nippon Life||May 2025–present

|}

{|

|style="vertical-align:top"|

{| class="wikitable"

|+Old Business Federation

!Order!!Past chairman!!Affiliation!!Tenure

|-

|style="text-align:center"|1||Ichiro Ishikawa||Nissan Chemical Industries||March 1948 – February 1956

|-

|style="text-align:center"|2||Taizo Ishizaka||Tokyo Shibaura Electric||February 1956 – May 1968

|-

|style="text-align:center"|3||Kōgorō Uemura||Keidanren Secretariat||May 1968 – May 1974

|-

|style="text-align:center"|4||Toshiwo Doko||Tokyo Shibaura Electric||May 1974 – May 1980

|-

|style="text-align:center"|5||Yoshihiro Inayama||Nippon Steel||May 1980 – May 1986

|-

|style="text-align:center"|6||Eishiro Saito||Nippon Steel||May 1986 – December 1990

|-

|style="text-align:center"|7||Gaishi Hiraiwa||Tokyo Electric Power||December 1990 – May 1994

|-

|style="text-align:center"|8||Shoichiro Toyoda||Toyota||May 1994 – May 1998

|-

|style="text-align:center"|9||Takashi Imai||Nippon Steel||May 1998 – May 2002

|}

|style="vertical-align:top"|

{| class="wikitable"

|+Former Japan Federation of Employers' Associations

!Order!!Past president<br /><small>(permanent typical secretary)</small>!!Affiliation!!Tenure

|-

|style="text-align:center"|1||Kanichi Moroi||Taiheiyo Cement||March 1948 – April 1968

|-

|style="text-align:center"|2||Takashi Miki ||Yawata Iron & Steel Co., Ltd.||April 1949 – April 1952

|-

|style="text-align:center"|3||Masato Kato||Daiwabo Co., Ltd.||April 1949 – August 1963

|-

|style="text-align:center"|4||Takeshi Sakurada||Nisshinbo Industries||April 1960 – May 1979

|-

|style="text-align:center"|5||Bunpei Otsuki||Mitsubishi Mining & Cement Co., Ltd.||May 1979 – May 1987

|-

|style="text-align:center"|6||Eiji Suzuki||Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation||May 1987 – May 1991

|-

|style="text-align:center"|7||Ken Nagano||Mitsubishi Materials||May 1991 – May 1995

|-

|style="text-align:center"|8||Jiro Nemoto||NYK||May 1995 – May 1999

|-

|style="text-align:center"|9||Hiroshi Okuda||Toyota||May 1999 – May 2002

|}

|}

See also

  • Chamber of commerce
  • List of employer associations
  • Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE), a similar European business association

References

  • https://www.keidanren.or.jp/en/
  • http://www.keidanren-usa.org/