Japan Business Federation
Keidanren Kaikan (left), the head office of Japan Business Federation
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| Formation | May 2002 |
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| Type | Economic organization |
| Legal status | Organization |
| Purpose | Promote the development of the Japanese economy |
| Headquarters | Tokyo |
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
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Region served
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 Japan |
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Official language
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Japanese |
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Key people
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Sadayuki Sakakibara (chairman) |
| Website | www |
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Formerly called
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Keidanren, Japan Federation of Employers' Associations |
Japan Business Federation (日本経済団体連合会 Nippon Keizai-dantai Rengōkai?) is an economic organization founded in May 2002 by amalgamation of Keidanren (Japan Federation of Economic Organizations, established 1946) and Nikkeiren (Japan Federation of Employers' Associations, established 1948), with Nikkeiren being absorbed into Keidanren.[1]
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).[2]
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 economic organizations. The other two organizations are the Japan Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Japan Committee for Economic Development (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 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 Sadayuki Sakakibara of Toray Industries. He has been chairman of The Japan Business Federation since May 2014.
Contents
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.[3][4]
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%.[5]
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.[6] 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.[7]
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.[8]
Yahoo! Japan
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.[9]
Current Board
Below are the lists of Presidents, Chairmen, Vice-presidents and Vice-chairmen of Japan Business Federation (as of July 1, 2011).[10]
| Title | Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|---|
| Council Chair | Fumiaki Watari | Advisor of JX Holdings |
| Vice-chairman | Yu Nomaguchi | Honorary Adviser of Mitsubishi Electric |
| Yoshiya Hara | Senior Advisor Head Office of Daiwa Securities Group | |
| Naotake Okubo | Board Counsel of Sekisui Chemical | |
| Akihiko Ide | Chairman of Mitsubishi Materials Corporation | |
| Tsuneji Uchida | President of Canon | |
| Norio Yamaguchi | Chairman of Ajinomoto | |
| Kazuhisa Shinoda | President of Oji Paper Company | |
| Go Ojita | Chairman of Asahi Group Holdings | |
| 芦田昭充 | Chairman of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines | |
| Kunio Ishihara | Chairman of Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. | |
| Kaoru Yano | Chairman of NEC | |
| Atsushi Kamei | President of Ito-Yokado | |
| Fumio Ohtsubo | President of Panasonic Corporation | |
| Shinzo Maeda | Chairman of Shiseido | |
| Susumu Kato | President of Sumitomo Corporation | |
| Eiza Kobayashi | Chairman of Itochu Corporation |
Past officeholders
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※初代の諸井貫一から3代目加藤正人までは『代表常任幹事』制を採用。 |
| Order | Past president | Affiliation | Tenure |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hiroshi Okuda | Toyota | May 2002 - May 2006 |
| 2 | Mitarai Fujio | Canon | May 2006 - May 2010 |
| 3 | Hiromasa Yonekura | Sumitomo Chemical | May 2010 - May 2014 |
See also
- Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations of Europe (UNICE), a similar European business association
References
- ↑ Japan Times Keidanren-Nikkeiren tieup scheduled for May 2002 start December 21 2000 Retrieved on July 22, 2012
- ↑ Nippon Keidanren website About Nippon Keidanren Retrieved on January 16th 2011
- ↑ Asahi Shimbun EDITORIAL: Political donations 2010/03/01 Retrieved on July 20, 2012
- ↑ Nikkei Weekly Business lobbies in state of flux June 16, 2012 page 28
- ↑ Keidanren urges gov't to raise consumption tax to 10% or higher+ Retrieved on July 20, 2012
- ↑ Kyodo News Keidanren chief renews call for restart of nuclear plants Retrieved on July 20, 2012
- ↑ Asahi Shimbun Softbank's Son denounces Keidanren's energy proposal Retrieved on July 20, 2012
- ↑ Nikkei Weekly Business lobbies in state of flux June 16, 2012 page 28
- ↑ The Daily Yomiuri Keidanren welcomes new member Yahoo August 1 2012 Retrieved on August 1, 2012
- ↑ Nippon Keidanren website http://www.keidanren.or.jp/english/profile/pro011.html Officers of Nippon Keidanren -Chairman, Vice Chairmen
External links
- Daimon, Sayuri, "The all-powerful voice of corporate Japan", Japan Times, June 16, 2009, p. 3.
- http://www.keidanren.or.jp/
- http://www.keidanren-usa.org/
