Megabank MUFG donated the most, at 7.3 billion yen. Keidanren, Japan’s business federation, often encouraged donations to the LDP and said it was keeping a close watch on policy.

Japan’s major corporations continue to treat their non-regular employees poorly, no matter how high corporate profits rise.

The consumption tax rate rises, amid corporate tax cuts.

Government and industry decided to build new nuclear power plants, despite the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Corporations are not held responsible for the chemical pollution they cause.

In Japan today, the average person faces various difficulties that should be avoided by a properly functioning state. Why is this?

Recently, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been repeatedly exposed for having slush funds; however, an even more deeply rooted structure has kept the LDP in power over many years. The party receives donations from major corporations and industry associations, and industry wishes are then reflected in policy. Although Japan has revised its law governing the control of political funds, it still does not prohibit donations from corporations or organizations.

Japan’s current politics — and the unfair burdens placed on citizens — are not a new development but rather an extension of the past. Tansa decided to investigate past corporate and group donations to the LDP.

To aid our investigation, we compiled a database of information stated in the National Political Association’s political funds reports. The National Political Association is a political funding organization that accepts corporate and group donations to the LDP.

Under the Political Funding Control Law, these political fund reports must be retained for three years. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications says it destroys the National Political Association reports after the retention period had passed. The law, in a sense, prevents transparency of political funds.

Tansa obtained the reports’ information from official notices published by the Cabinet Office.

We will continue publishing articles on this issue. In this first installment, we trace the history of corporate donations to the LDP, as well as identify companies whose total contributions over the past half-century have exceeded 100 million yen (roughly $666,000).

	Company name	Total(JPY)
1	Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group	7,321,169,160
2	Mizuho Financial Group	5,395,567,980
3	TOYOTA MOTOR	4,140,427,000
4	Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group	4,114,934,168
5	NIPPON STEEL	3,973,596,800
6	Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings	3,231,968,000
7	Resona Holdings	3,096,074,600
8	JFE Holdings	2,589,480,000
9	Panasonic Holdings	2,389,012,000
10	Hitachi	2,121,800,000
11	NISSAN MOTOR	2,069,425,000
12	MS&AD Insurance Group Holdings	2,064,278,000
13	Sompo Holdings	1,927,630,006
14	Nippon Life Insurance Company	1,847,473,913
15	Mitsubish	1,769,495,000
16	Tokio Marine Holdings	1,764,910,000
17	TOSHIBA	1,732,122,000
18	Mitsubishi Electric	1,643,675,000
19	Mitsubishi Heavy Industries	1,618,040,000
20	MITSUI	1,570,010,000
21	ITOCHU	1,502,728,000
22	TAKENAKA	1,395,911,200
23	Honda Motor	1,376,860,000
24	Kobe Steel	1,324,240,000
25	TAISEI	1,321,998,200
26	SUMITOMO	1,253,480,000
27	Aozora Bank	1,241,206,000
28	NEC	1,234,620,000
29	Kirin Holdings	1,216,523,100
30	Shimizu	1,215,280,200
31	Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance	1,201,398,011
32	Marubeni	1,195,920,000
33	Kajima	1,160,370,200
34	Sony Group	1,157,300,000
35	Dai-Ichi Life Holdings	1,152,707,979
36	Sojitz	1,134,350,000
37	OBAYASHI	1,111,382,200
38	Sumitomo Chemical	1,103,384,900
39	Fujitsu Limited	1,101,090,000
40	Isuzu Motor	1,078,540,000
41	Nomura Holdings	1,052,311,260
42	SUMITOMO LIFE INSURANCE	1,031,822,131
43	Mitsubishi Chemical Group	1,017,839,500
44	Takeda Pharmaceuticals	977,300,000
45	Hokkaido Takushoku Bank	970,066,000
46	Hankyu Hanshin Holdings	947,314,000
47	Kintetsu Group Holdings	917,575,000
48	Mitsubishi Motors	916,982,000
49	Daiwa Securities Group	850,646,756
50	Astellas Pharma	842,810,000
51	Mazda	830,820,000
52	Daiichi Sankyo	822,825,000
53	Canon	794,520,000
54	SUBARU	788,115,000
55	IHI	784,430,000
56	HAZAMA ANDO	758,017,000
57	SUZUKI MOTOR	756,777,500
58	Sumitomo Mitsui Construction	711,388,000
59	Takamatsu Construction Group	705,093,200
60	ENEOS Holdings	704,468,600
61	INFRONEER Holdings	693,009,600
62	PENTA-OCEAN CONSTRUCTION	679,960,600
63	NISHIMATSU CONSTRUCTION	657,757,600
64	Kumagai Gumi	657,360,000
65	Nagoya Railroad	645,744,000
66	TODA	615,367,600
67	Tokyu	597,272,000
68	Toyota Tsusho	582,860,000
69	Tobu Railway	574,115,000
70	Mebuki Financial Group	552,806,500
71	DAIWA HOUSE INDUSTRY	544,099,000
72	Oji Holdings	528,573,000
73	Okumura	519,672,000
74	Nippon Paper Group	518,608,000
75	Odakyu Railway	516,240,000
76	Bridgestone	507,000,000
77	Fukuoka Financial Group	496,280,400
78	DENSO	477,500,000
79	Asahi Group Holdings	476,800,000
80	SEIBU HOLDINGS	471,732,000
81	FUJI ELECTRIC	470,570,000
82	Asahi Kasei	455,625,100
83	Asahi Mutual Life Insurance	447,478,504
84	Keihan Holdings	444,908,000
85	Keio	444,814,000
86	Keikyu	435,598,000
87	Hokuhoku Financial Group	432,967,300
88	Kubota	431,460,000
89	KONOIKE CONSTRUCTION	430,176,000
90	Suntory Holdings	418,468,000
91	Kawasaki Heavy Industries	410,580,000
92	Shionogi	407,560,000
93	TAISHO PHARMACEUTICAL HOLDINGS	407,380,000
94	TEKKEN	406,917,000
95	Nankai Electric Railway	405,654,000
96	Toray Industries	404,874,000
97	TOA	404,593,000
98	ASO	393,138,000
99	Concordia Financial Group	390,479,000
100	TOYO CONSTRUCTION	389,746,000
101	Yamaichi Securities	389,401,704
102	Nishi-Nippon Railroad	386,674,000
103	Hitachi Zosen	382,965,000
104	T&D Holdings	378,654,467
105	Komatsu	367,600,000
106	SATO KOGYO	364,078,060
107	Tobishima	353,991,000
108	Eisai	349,560,000
109	Sapporo Holdings	340,965,000
110	JDC	338,963,000
111	Sotetsu Holdings	337,202,000
112	NKK SWITCHES	326,800,000
113	Prudential Financial, Inc.	325,238,883
114	Mitsui Fudosan	320,853,000
115	MITSUI E&S	320,250,000
116	Otsuka Holdings	319,490,000
117	Asanuma	315,747,800
118	Yamaha Motor	314,870,000
119	Kikkoman	309,330,000
120	GUNMA BANK	308,197,300
121	Fudo Tetra	303,240,940
122	The Hyakujushi Bank	302,537,900
123	Kinden	300,580,000
124	CHUGAI PHARMACEUTICAL	299,930,000
125	Magara Construction	298,060,200
126	Oki Electric Industry	295,920,000
127	TOKYU CONSTRUCTION	295,503,000
128	The Chiba Bank	292,296,800
129	NSK	289,750,000
130	Kyushu Financial Group	289,348,800
131	FUKUDA	285,193,000
132	AIG Japan Holdings Kabushiki Kaisha	279,280,000
133	KANDENKO	278,892,000
134	Daishi Hokuetsu Financial Group	278,408,400
135	WAKACHIKU CONSTRUCTION	277,834,000
136	Shizuoka Financial Group	277,074,600
137	Idemitsu Kosan	268,685,000
138	NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE	267,060,000
139	KANEMATSU	263,050,000
140	Hirogin Holdings	262,218,500
141	Rinkai Nissan Construction	260,605,200
142	Sharp Corporation	252,750,000
143	Aisin	251,440,000
144	FUJIFILM Holdings	249,036,000
145	TSUMURA	247,340,000
146	ONO PHARMACEUTICAL	246,130,000
147	ALPS ALPINE	239,120,000
148	TOPPAN Holdings	237,400,000
149	Tohoku Electric Power	234,388,000
150	Dentsu Group	230,589,000
151	Barings Japan	230,000,000
152	OMRON	228,650,000
153	Chubu Electric Power Company	227,484,000
154	The Zenitaka	226,166,000
155	ORIX Corporation	221,750,000
156	The San-in Godo Bank	220,437,000
157	Chugin Financial Group	220,091,900
158	Procrea Holdings	218,667,500
159	Daio Paper Corporation	214,215,700
160	TOYOTA INDUSTRIES	210,838,500
161	The 77 Bank	208,442,100
162	THE HACHIJUNI BANK	201,667,300
163	Resonac Holdings	200,903,600
164	Sumitomo Heavy Industries	200,730,000
165	THE TOHO BANK	197,057,000
166	NGK INSULATORS	195,134,000
167	MITSUBISHI ESTATE	193,840,000
168	Sumitomo Electric Industries	192,514,000
169	AOMI CONSTRUCTION	192,015,400
170	Marelli	189,100,000
171	NYK Line	188,540,000
172	Iyogin Holdings	185,812,400
173	JTEKT CORPORATION	180,310,000
174	HONMA	179,910,200
175	KABUKI CONSTRUCTION	176,550,200
176	Central Japan Railway Company（ＪＲ Central）	175,800,000
177	Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance	173,768,326
178	Meiji Holdings	173,320,000
179	IWATA CHIZAKI	169,544,000
180	Keisei Electric Railway	169,247,000
181	Matsui Construction	167,997,200
182	Yamaguchi Financial Group	167,535,800
183	Nakano Corporation	163,692,000
184	KOITO MANUFACTURING	161,675,000
185	Hokuriku Electric Power	160,888,000
186	Ohmoto Gumi	160,600,000
187	Ajinomoto	160,400,000
188	East Japan Railway	160,300,000
189	CHUDENKO	159,520,000
190	DAIKIN INDUSTRIES	159,010,000
191	TOTO	158,700,000
192	Nakasuji	158,446,000
193	Nippon Shinyaku	158,210,000
194	ANA HOLDINGS	158,000,000
195	The Nanto Bank	157,279,300
196	HASEKO	157,252,000
197	AGC	156,950,000
198	DAISUE CONSTRUCTION	154,917,000
199	The Bank of Kyoto	154,847,000
200	The Toa Reinsurance	152,680,000
201	THE SHIGA BANK	151,423,306
202	THE KIYO BANK	150,686,200
203	SHOKOKUSHA Publishing	150,000,000
204	The Awa Bank	149,645,800
205	The Hyakugo Bank	147,033,900
206	OKASAN SECURITIES GROUP	145,999,564
207	Senshu Ikeda Holdings	145,541,900
208	YASKAWA Electric	141,450,000
209	OHKI	139,864,000
210	Suruga Bank	139,797,800
211	Yakult Honsha	139,650,000
212	The Yokohama Rubber	139,540,000
213	JVCKENWOOD	138,500,000
214	Juroku Financial Group	137,941,300
215	Nisshin Seifun Group	137,050,000
216	Daido Steel	136,736,000
217	The Shikoku Bank	133,649,400
218	Aichi Steel	132,200,000
219	Toho Life Insurance	130,286,519
220	MEIDENSHA	130,080,000
221	Murata Manufacturing	129,200,000
222	Hokkaido Electric Power	127,500,000
223	Nishi-Nippon Financial Holdings	127,075,900
224	The Miyazaki Bank	126,300,400
225	YONDENKO	126,104,000
226	Tokai Tokyo Financial Holdings	126,027,818
227	NIPPON EXPRESS HOLDINGS	124,633,000
228	AIR WATER	123,224,000
229	The Musashino Bank	122,796,100
230	YAMAZAKI BAKING	121,200,000
231	The Yamanashi Chuo Bank	120,789,300
232	Seven & i Holdings	120,740,000
233	The Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank	119,450,400
234	KITANO CONSTRUCTION	119,054,000
235	HOKKOKU FINANCIAL HOLDINGS	117,293,300
236	Sanyo Securities Company	111,475,670
237	The Fukui Bank	108,645,000
238	Santen Pharmaceutical	108,219,000
239	NHK SPRING	107,360,000
240	Kowa Company	106,520,000
241	Nagase	103,775,000
242	TOKAI KOGYO	103,025,000
243	Sumitomo Bakelite	101,290,000
244	Chugoku Bussan	101,100,000
245	HISAMITSU PHARMACEUTICAL	101,019,000
246	EBARA CORPORATION	100,969,000
247	Sumitomo Rubber Industries	100,760,000
248	Proterial	100,054,000
249	ZENSHO HOLDINGS	100,000,000

Note on Tansa’s use of information

 

The data used in this series has been complied by Tansa from official notices. Among a total of roughly 160,000 pieces of data, we identified about 500 companies with the highest total donations. We combined data for companies in cases of company name changes, mergers, and subsidiaries based on the following criteria.

 

・Major subsidiaries listed in the latest annual securities reports

・Major mergers and name changes as listed in the company history section of the most recent annual reports

・For cases in which a given company has not submitted annual securities reports, we used information from its official website.

・Other cases where Tansa reviewed multiple supporting documents and determined that the companies in question were to be likely to be the same

 

There were some cases in which identical company names appeared in the official notices and which were difficult for us to determine as distinct from one another. In such cases, we combined only those that could be determined by reviewing supporting documents. Although the data has been carefully reviewed to ensure correctness, errors and omissions are possible, as we were able to confirm some differences in notation and typographical errors.

 

If you notice any errors, please let us know via Tansa’s contact page.

 

If you wish to use the data published in this series for journalistic or research purposes, etc., please ensure you cite the data as follows: Data compiled by Tansa in its series “Buying Policy.”

1974: Prime Minister Miki’s push to ban corporate funding

In the past, the LDP itself once moved to ban corporate donations.

In the House of Councillors election held in July 1974, the LDP almost lost its majority to opposition parties. The LDP had developed a system of “corporate-sponsored elections” and had placed major corporate groups in charge of funding and campaigning. Kakuei Tanaka was prime minister at the time.

The election was described as “8 wins, 7 loses,” meaning “if you spend 800 million yen, you win, and if you spend 700 million yen, you lose.” This kind of “plutocracy” faced criticism from the public. One journalist, Takashi Tachibana, traced the source of Prime Minister Tanaka’s funding, publishing his findings in the monthly magazine Bungeishunju. Prime Minister Tanaka resigned in December of that year.

After Tanaka stepped down, Takeo Miki took over as the next prime minister.

Miki was first elected to Japan’s House of Representatives in 1937 at the age of 30. Prior to the start of the Pacific War (World War II), he openly opposed going to war with the United States. After Japan’s capitulation in 1945, Miki joined a political party called the Cooperative Democratic Party, hoping to make use of unions of workers, small businesses, and farmers in politics. He joined the LDP when it was formed in 1955.

Just before assuming the role of prime minister in December 1974, Miki advocated for banning corporate donations. He said the following in a policy speech to the Diet in January 1975.

“To restore public confidence in our country’s politics overall, let us take a scalpel to the way elections and political funding are currently conducted. We are preparing to submit the necessary legislation to the Diet this session.”

However, Prime Minister Miki’s position quickly softened. Although the Political Funding Control Law was amended that year, it still did not prohibit corporate donations. It only imposed upper limits on corporate donation amounts based on company size.

In 1976, the Lockheed bribery scandals came to light. Former Prime Minister Tanaka was tried for accepting 500 million yen in bribes from the US corporation Lockheed for helping to facilitate the sale of Lockheed aircraft to Japanese airlines. Prime Minister Miki suggested opening an investigation into the scandal but was rebuffed by the LDP, his own party, which even pressured him into stepping down. In the end, Miki ended his term as prime minister after the LDP suffered major losses in that year’s election.

The 1988 Recruit scandal, and the LDP’s first fall from power in 1993

The following decades saw the LDP embroiled in further scandals. These included a 1988 scandal in which politicians received private shares of a Recruit subsidiary right before it went public, knowing the shares would rise; former LDP Vice President Shin Kanemaru was exposed for tax evasion in 1993; and corruption involving general contracting companies came to light that same year. In 1993, the LDP lost power for the first time since its inception.

The new coalition government, led by Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, revised the Political Funds Control Law in 1994. It created a taxpayer-funded political party subsidy system, as well as banned corporate and group donations to individual politicians.

The amendment also included a measure to review the issue of corporate and group contributions to political parties after five years.

However, nothing changed even after the five years passed: Corporate and group donations to political parties continued. And the LDP regained power.

LDP Headquarters

1974: Keidanren Chairman Doko suggested ending its donation mediation

For many years, Nippon Keidanren — the Japan Business Federation — has been deeply involved in corporate and group donations to the LDP. It has encouraged its member companies to donate to the LDP since the latter was formed. Keidanren currently consists of 1,542 companies, mainly large corporations, as well as 106 industry associations and 47 local economic organizations.

However, Keidanran has generally hit pause on its political donation activities when the LDP becomes mired in funding scandals.

In the previously mentioned 1974 Upper House election, when election funding faced public criticism, Keidanren decided to stop “mediating” the allocation of donations from its member companies. Keidanren Chairman Toshio Doko made a proposal to Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.

In addition to his post at Keidanren, Doko was also chairman of electronics company Toshiba at the time. He later pushed for “fiscal restructuring without tax increases” during the administration of Prime Minister Zenko Suzuki (1980–982) and was called the “devil of administrative reform.” Doko was a penny pincher: He was rumored to sometimes only eat dried sardines as an accompaniment to his rice.

According to a National Political Association publication, at a press conference Doko said the following about ending Keidanren’s mediation activities.

“Currently, it is imperative for Keidanren to clear up the public’s misconception about collusion between the political and business worlds. The public is saying that politicians and businessmen are birds of a feather.”

“Keidanren should not be adjusting its hat under the plum tree,” he added, quoting an idiom that means “never invite suspicions needlessly.”

Japan’s 64th Prime Minister, Kakuei Tanaka (Image from the Prime Minister’s Office website)

1993: Keidanren Chairman Hiraiwa said the federation would consider ending corporate donations

Again, 1993 saw former LDP Vice President Shin Kanemaru exposed for tax evasion, as well as a corruption scandal involving general contractors. As noted previously, these events contributed to the LDP’s first ever fall from power. This time, Keidanren — then under Chairman Gaishi Hiraiwa, chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) — presented the following policy.

“We will consider how to deal with corporate donations, including possibly ending them after a certain period of time.”

“In the meantime, each company or organization will make donations at its own discretion, and Keidanren will not act as a mediator.”

2004: Keidanren Chairman Okuda introduced policy scorecards

In 2003, 10 years after Chairman Hiraiwa expressed the above stance, Toyota Motor Corporation Chairman Hiroshi Okuda became chairman of Keidanren. Under Okuda’s watch, Keidanren pivoted from distancing itself from corporate donations to active involvement in politics through donations.

Keidanren “scored” each political party’s policies and their ability to implement them, and, based on these, called for donations from Keidanren member companies.

A transcript of a roundtable discussion with Keidanren leaders, including Chairman Okuda, was published in the January 2004 issue of Keizai Trend, Keidanren’s official publication.

“Under Chairman Hiraiwa, Keidanren decided to consider how it should handle corporate donations, including possibly ending them. Although Keidanren considered revising its policy several times since then, we never reached a conclusion. Politics has a big role to play in decisively implementing structural reform in Japan’s economic society, and I believe political donations are still necessary in order to encourage this. That’s why we have launched this initiative,” Okuda said.

Takahide Sakurai, then Vice Chairman of Keidanren’s Board of Trustees and chairman of Dai-ichi Life, spoke of the importance of repeating a process of “plan, do, see, and support.”

“We are saying that, for the first time, Keidanren will put out a kind of manifesto, and we are going to watch closely and evaluate whether or not[the politicians] follow it. We can’t just say our piece then take whatever [policy] comes back to us. By repeating the process of plan, do, see, and support, we will also brush up our own perspective on policies,” he said.

In January 2004, the month this round-table discussion was published, Keidanren scored 10 policy initiatives of both the LDP and the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) on a 5-point scale from A to E. The LDP outperformed the DPJ by a large margin in the results.

LDP

A: 1 policy initiative

B: 8 policy initiatives

C: 1 policy initiative

 

DPJ

A: 0 policy initiatives

B: 3 policy initiatives

C: 5 policy initiatives

D: 2 policy initiatives

2010: DPJ took power, Keidanren stopped calling for political donations

Although the LDP continued to score highly in Keidanren’s policy ratings, the LDP suffered major losses in the 2009 lower house election, and the DPJ came to power. The next year, Keidanren Chairman Fujio Mitarai, chairman of Canon, discontinued Keidanren’s evaluation of political parties and its calls for political donations from member companies.

2014: Under the Abe administration, Keidanren resumed calls for political donations

Keidanren’s calls for political donations, however, was revived when the LDP returned to power. At the time, Shinzo Abe was prime minister, and Keidanren was chaired by Toray Industries Chairman Sadayuki Sakakibara.

2023: Keidanren Chairman Tokura calls donations to LDP “social contribution”

In December 2023, current Keidanren Chairman Masakazu Tokura, also a director of Sumitomo Chemical, said the following at a press conference about political donations to the LDP.

“It costs to maintain democracy. Clean corporate donations to political parties are necessary social contributions.”

(Originally published on July 3, 2024.)

Buying Policy: All articles