# Japan Business Federation

The 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 (経済団体連合会, Japan Federation of Economic Organizations, established 1946; name sometimes used alone as abbreviation for whole organization) and Nikkeiren (日本経営者団体連盟, 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 led business associations. The other two organizations are the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry [ja] (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 Masakazu Tokura of Sumitomo Chemical. He has been chairman of The Japan Business Federation since June 2021.

## 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

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.

## 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.

## Current board

Below are the lists of presidents, Chair, Vice-presidents and Vice-Chairs of Japan Business Federation (as of July 1, 2021).
| Title | Name | Affiliation |
| Chair | Masakazu Tokura | chairman of the board of Sumitomo Chemical |
| Vice-Chair | Shuzo Sumi | Senior Executive Advisor of Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance |
| Vice-Chair | Tetsuro Tomita | Chairman and Director of East Japan Railway Company |
| Vice-Chair | Shinya Katanozaki | President and CEO of ANA Holdings |
| Vice-Chair | Tsutomu Sugimori | Representative Director, Chairman of the board, Group CEO of ENEOS Holdings |
| Vice-Chair | Kuniharu Nakamura | chairman of the board of directors of Sumitomo Corporation |
| Vice-Chair | Nobuyuki Hirano | Senior Advisor of MUFG Bank |
| Vice-Chair | Koichiro Watanabe | Director, chairman of the board of Dai-ichi Life |
| Vice-Chair | Hiromichi Shinohara | chairman of the board of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation |
| Vice-Chair | Tetsuji Ohashi | chairman of the board of Komatsu Limited |
| Vice-Chair | Yasuhiro Sato | Chairman of Mizuho Financial Group |
| Vice-Chair | Masanobu Komoda | President and CEO of Mitsui Fudosan |
| Vice-Chair | Jun Ohta | President and Group CEO of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group |
| Vice-Chair | Tasuo Yasunaga | Representative Director, chairman of the board of directors of Mitsui & Co. |
| Vice-Chair | Masaki Sakuyama | Chairman of Mitsubishi Electric |
| Vice-Chair | Toshiaki Higashihara | Director, Representative Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of Hitachi |
| Vice-Chair | Eiji Hashimoto | Representative Director and President of Nippon Steel |
| Vice-Chair | Kazuhiro Tsuga | chairman of the board of Panasonic Corporation |
| Vice-Chair | Tomoko Namba | Founder & Executive Chairwoman of DeNA |
| Vice-Chair | Masakazu Kubota | President of Keidanren |
| Title | Name | Affiliation |
| Council Chair | Fumiaki Watari | Advisor of JX Holdings |
| Vice-chairman | Yu Nomaguchi | Honorary Adviser of Mitsubishi Electric |
| Vice-chairman | Yoshiya Hara | Senior Advisor Head Office of Daiwa Securities Group |
| Vice-chairman | Naotake Okubo | Board Counsel of Sekisui Chemical |
| Vice-chairman | Akihiko Ide | Chairman of Mitsubishi Materials Corporation |
| Vice-chairman | Tsuneji Uchida | President of Canon |
| Vice-chairman | Norio Yamaguchi | Chairman of Ajinomoto |
| Vice-chairman | Kazuhisa Shinoda | President of Oji Paper Company |
| Vice-chairman | Go Ojita | Chairman of Asahi Group Holdings |
| Vice-chairman | Ashida Akimitsu | Chairman of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines |
| Vice-chairman | Kunio Ishihara | Chairman of Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. |
| Vice-chairman | Kaoru Yano | Chairman of NEC |
| Vice-chairman | Atsushi Kamei | President of Ito-Yokado |
| Vice-chairman | Fumio Ohtsubo | President of Panasonic Corporation |
| Vice-chairman | Shinzo Maeda | Chairman of Shiseido |
| Vice-chairman | Susumu Kato | President of Sumitomo Corporation |
| Vice-chairman | Eiza Kobayashi | Chairman of Itochu Corporation |

### Past officeholders

Japan Business Federation :
| 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 |
| 4 | Sadayuki Sakakibara | Toray Industries | June 2014 – May 2018 |
| 5 | Hiroaki Nakanishi | Hitachi | May 2018 – June 2021 |
| 6 | Masakazu Tokura | Sumitomo Chemical | June 2021–present |
Old Business Federation :
| Order | Past chairman | Affiliation | Tenure |
| 1 | Ichiro Ishikawa | Nissan Chemical Industries | March 1948 – February 1956 |
| 2 | Taizo Ishizaka | Tokyo Shibaura Electric | February 1956 – May 1968 |
| 3 | Uemura Kōgorō | Keidanren Secretariat | May 1968 – May 1974 |
| 4 | Toshiwo Doko | Tokyo Shibaura Electric | May 1974 – May 1980 |
| 5 | Inayama Yoshihiro | Nippon Steel | May 1980 – May 1986 |
| 6 | Eishiro Saito | Nippon Steel | May 1986 – December 1990 |
| 7 | Gaishi Hiraiwa | Tokyo Electric Power | December 1990 – May 1994 |
| 8 | Shoichiro Toyoda | Toyota | May 1994 – May 1998 |
| 9 | Takashi Imai | Nippon Steel | May 1998 – May 2002 |
Former Japan Federation of Employers' Associations :
| Order | Past president (permanent typical secretary) | Affiliation | Tenure |
| 1 | Kanichi Moroi | Taiheiyo Cement | March 1948 – April 1968 |
| 2 | Miki Takashi | Yawata Iron & Steel Co., Ltd. | April 1949 – April 1952 |
| 3 | Kato Masato | Daiwabo Co., Ltd. | April 1949 – August 1963 |
| 4 | Takeshi Sakurada | Nisshinbo Industries | April 1960 – May 1979 |
| 5 | Bunpei Otsuki | Mitsubishi Mining & Cement Co., Ltd. | May 1979 – May 1987 |
| 6 | Eiji Suzuki | Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation | May 1987 – May 1991 |
| 7 | Ken Nagano | Mitsubishi Materials | May 1991 – May 1995 |
| 8 | Jiro Nemoto | NYK | May 1995 – May 1999 |
| 9 | Hiroshi Okuda | Toyota | May 1999 – May 2002 |