By Anton Bridge
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan Airlines’ incoming president Mitsuko Tottori joins a sparse cohort of female executives leading Japanese firms.
While the number of all-male boards of directors in Japan Inc has fallen markedly in recent years, few women have been able to work their way up internally, highlighting the obstacles facing women aspiring to management.
Out of 1,836 companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s (TSE) “prime” market, only 15 firms, or less than 1%, were led by women, according to a Kyodo and Teikoku Databank study as of January 2023. One person has since stepped down.
The proportion is higher at 8.3% for all Japanese companies including unlisted ones, but more than half of these female leaders had inherited a family business, according to a separate Teikoku Databank study released in November last year.
Below are the 14 companies listed on the TSE’s “prime” market led by women. At some firms the top executive is the president, at others it is the chief executive. Market capitalisation data is from LSEG.
Company CEO Market Industry
cap (yen)
Yushin Precision Takayo Kotani 24.1 bn Industrial
Equipment robotics
YA-MAN Ltd Kimiyo Yamazaki 58.3 bn Beauty goods and
cosmetics
Stella Chemifa Aki Hashimoto 42.7 bn Chemicals
Corp processing
Takemoto Yohki Emiko Takemoto 9.7 bn Bottle
manufacturer
SUNNY SIDE UP Etsuko Tsugihara 8.9 bn Corporate PR
GROUP
teno. Holdings Hiroko Ikeuchi 2.4 bn Childcare services
JAC Recruitment Hiromi Tazaki 112.3 bn Recruitment
Trend Micro Eva Chen 1.2 trn Cybersecurity
Poppins Corp Maiko Todoroki 11.6 bn Childcare services
Midac Holdings Keiko Kato 51.6 bn Industrial waste
disposal
Imuraya Group Nobuko Nakajima 31.6 bn Food products
Hyper Inc Makiko Mochizuki 2.8 bn IT services
CMIC Holdings Keiko Oishi 50 bn Pharmaceutical
development
support
SWCC Corporation Takayo Hasegawa 93.5 bn Power cables
(Reporting by Anton Bridge; Editing by Miyoung Kim)
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