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The Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, plans to appoint Nippon Life Insurance Co. Chairman Yoshinobu Tsutsui as its next chairman to succeed Masakazu Tokura, whose term of office expires in May.
The country’s biggest business lobby is expected to finalize the appointment at a meeting of its chairman and vice chairs to be held early next year. Tsutsui will formally assume the position at a regular general meeting in May.
Traditionally, Keidanren’s top post has usually gone to one of its incumbent vice chairs who is from the manufacturing industry and is not affiliated with former “zaibatsu” conglomerates. Tsutsui will be the first head of a financial institution to lead the business group.
The 70-year-old has been serving as one of Keidanren’s vice chairs since 2023. He became the first chairperson of the GX (Green Transformation) Acceleration Agency, a core agency for Japan’s GX strategy that was established at the government’s behest in 2024 to help realize a decarbonized society.
At Nippon Life Insurance, Tsutsui was long involved in the planning of management strategies and became the company’s president in 2011. He led the acquisition of Mitsui Life Insurance Co. (now Taiju Life Insurance Co.) in 2015 and enhanced the company’s revenue base in the domestic life insurance business. He has been the chairman of Nippon Life Insurance since April 2018.
Nippon Life Insurance is one of the country’s leading institutional investors and has stakes in many major companies in Japan. Keidanren apparently picked Tsutsui in the expectation that, as the head of this company, with deep connections to domestic business and outstanding knowledge of the global issue of decarbonization, he would be a very capable leader.
Tokura, 74, chairman of Sumitomo Chemical Co., took office as the president of Keidanren in June 2021 to replace Hiroaki Nakanishi, who stepped down before the end of his term for health reasons.
Regarding his successor, Tokura said at a press conference in May, “I believe we are no longer in an era where we must insist on someone from the manufacturing industry. I would like to look at various fields to pick the best person.”
“In order to prevent the “Lost Three Decades” from becoming the “Lost Four Decades,” we will have to maintain a reformist attitude,” Tsutsui said at a press conference held after he was appointed as a Keidanren vice chair in 2023.
In Japan, prices are continuing to rise, and the January inauguration of the administration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could trigger a dramatic change in the state of international relations. Tsutsui’s abilities to communicate and coordinate will be put to a test.
Tsutsui graduated from the Faculty of Economics at Kyoto University and joined Nippon Life Insurance in 1977. He became the company’s president in 2011 and chairman in 2018. He has served as a vice chair of Keidanren since 2023. He is from Hyogo Prefecture.
