Rudlin Consulting

Having looked at the largest foreign-owned companies in Japan in a previous post, we thought we’d take a look at the largest companies in Japan owned by European companies in more detail.

By employee number, they are:

1. Mitsubishi Fuso Truck – Germany (89.2% owned by Daimler), #3 overall, 10,633 employees
2. Bosch – Germany, #10 overall, 5,254 employees
3. Chugai Pharmaceuticals – Switzerland (59.8% owned by Roche), #12 overall, 5,026 employees
4. AstraZeneca – UK, #17 overall, 3,700 employees
5. IKEA Japan – Netherlands (yes, not Sweden, it’s owned by Ingka Group, which is a franchisee of Inter IKEA Systems B.V.), #19 overall, 3,602 employees
6. NOK – Germany (25% owned by Freudenberg Group – maybe not strictly speaking foreign owned therefore), #21 overall, 3,337 employees
7. DHL Supply Chain – Germany, #24 overall, 3,000 employees
8. Compass Group Japan – UK, #26 overall, 2,684 employees
9. Novartis Pharma – Switzerland, #30 overall, 2,600 employees
10. GlaxoSmithKline – UK, #32 overall, 2,500 employees
11. Louis Vuitton Japan – France, #32 overall, 2,500 employees
12. Nestle Japan – Switzerland, #34 overall, 2,400 employees
13. L’Oreal – France, #35 overall, 2,350 employees
14. Veolia Jenets – France, #41 overall, 2,000 employees
15. Phillips Japan – Netherlands, #43 overall, 1,942 employees
16. DHL Japan – Germany, #45 overall, 1,900 employees
17. Pioneer – Sweden, #46 overall, 1,859 employees
18. SAP Japan – Germany, #49 overall, 1,727 employees
19. Boehringer Ingelheim – Germany, #50 overall, 1,700 employees
20. Valeo Japan – France, #52 overall, 1,660 employees
21. Bayer – Germany, #56 overall, 1,591 employees
22. Ichikoh industries – France (61% owned by Valeo), #60 overall, 1,485 employees
23. Cap Gemini – France, #62 overall, 1,400 employees
24. Sanofi – France – #65 overall, 1,334 employees
25. Autoliv – Sweden – #66 overall, 1,332 employees
26. Lush – UK – #67 overall, 1,300 employees
27. Johnson Controls – Ireland, #70 overall, 1,282 employees
28. Novo Nordisk – Denmark, #72 overall, 1,274 employees
29. Sika – Switzerland, #80 overall, 1,136 employees
30. ICON Clinical Research – Ireland, #85 overall, 1,000 employees
31. NN Life Insurance – Netherlands, #87 overall, 975 employees
32. Zurich Insurance – Switzerland, #89 overall, 946 employees

= 33 BASF Japan – Germany, #92 overall, 920 employees

=33 GKN Driveline Japan – UK, #92 overall, 920 employees

35. Mahle Engine Components Japan – Germany, #96 overall, 880 employees

36. Lacoste Japan – France, #98 overall, 851 employees

37. Dassault Systems – France, #100 overall, 850 employees

There are many missing names from this, so it is just indicative, based on whatever company responded to Toyo Keizai’s enquiries. but overall it seems that European companies represent around 37% of the largest foreign companies in Japan. American companies are around 46% of the largest foreign companies in Japan, with the remaining 17% being owned by companies from Taiwan, Israel, India, China, Hong Kong, Canada and Australia – plus Japan Display, owned by a company, Ichigo Trust, registered in the Cayman Islands, which is technically UK territory.

10 of the 37 are German, 9 French, 6 British (or 7 if you count Japan Display), 5 Swiss, 3 Dutch, 3 Swedish, 2 Irish, 1 Danish. The missing major European economies are Italy and Spain. Judging by size of economy, the UK looks a bit underweight.

8 are pharmaceutical manufacturers or clinical research related and the other main categories are automotive manufacturing/engineering and consumer brands.

At least 6 (7 if you count Japan Display) are the result of acquisitions or at least a major investment in Japanese companies – Compass Group acquiring NKS for example.

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Last updated by Pernille Rudlin at 2026-01-13.