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  • “There is no point in workstyle reforms if you don’t change everything at once” – Fujitsu’s President Tokita

    “There is no point in workstyle reforms if you don’t change everything at once” – Fujitsu’s President Tokita

    President Tokita of Fujitsu was interviewed by Saeki Shinya of the Nikkei Business magazine in August 2020. The beginning of the interview focused on the impact of the pandemic and China on Fujitsu’s business but the bulk of the interview was regarding Fujitsu’s recent announcement of various workstyle reforms (the English translation of hatarakikata kaikaku, a government led initiative to change Japanese workplaces).

    Tokita felt Japan was unlikely to recover economically from COVID-19 until the end of FY 2021. As for China, clearly this was a delicate subject and Nikkei Business had to issue a correction to how they described what Tokita said. He said the progression of nationalism should not be welcomed. It would be disrespectful to say it’s a great chance for Fujitsu if the USA or Europe move away from Huawei, however the need for a secure communication infrastructure is important, regardless, for a more resilient society, and this is helping Fujitsu employees to “reset their mindset”.

    The Q&A regarding workstyle reforms I have translated as below:

    Q: Why did Fujitsu announce work style reforms such as a 50 percent reduction in office space, the abolition of commuting passes, the introduction of telework allowances and job-type employment (to assign and evaluate human resources after clarifying duties such as roles and skills to be fulfilled) all at once?

    Mr. Tokita: It just happened that way – actually I narrowed down the scope somewhat.

    In the first place, we didn’t announce it in July just because of coronavirus. We have been introducing telework since 2017, and we had already introduced a job type system overseas – only Japan was different. Since I became president last year, I realised Fujitsu’s biggest value is that its 130,000 employees can move in the same vector. Therefore, I wanted to unify the way we work, and we thought that we should utilise good governance as a global company.

    Q: You had experience of being assigned to Europe – you had doubts yourself about the difference in personnel systems in Japan and overseas?

    Mr. Tokita: My desire for globalization was strong. In fact, I hated the phrase “one Fujitsu” when I first became president. It was used because we were not “1” but there was no point in using it like a slogan if behaviours don’t change.  I used it officially for the first time in June when we celebrated our 85th birthday, because our internal systems and communication have now improved, and we are convinced that it can happen.

    Work style reforms have been carried out in many different ways. There are also criticisms that the results based system failed and there were people saying “how much longer are we going to use man-months as a basis for calculation?”  I understood all of this. That’s why this time it happened all at once.

    So far, we have been reforming little by little. Because it is a large company, it is scary if the change is too big. However, the reason why it did not work was that the personnel system itself had not changed in nature. Changing if you only change the structure and operations superficially will not work. I decided to go with the idea to change everything at once.

    Q: Isn’t there an overlap between the new “job type” system and the failed results based system [known as seikashugi in Japanese – introduced in many companies in the 1990s]?

    Tokita: There are many viewpoints – some say the results based system failed, and I haven’t heard many stories of it succeeding.

    However, a job type system will be different from company to company and for Fujitsu. Evaluations are no longer top down. We have no choice but try to make sure it will lead to Fujitsu’s growth and sustainable business. Of course there are some lessons to be learnt from what happened in the past but I try not to worry too much about that.

    Q: What does Fujitsu want employees to do with the introduction of a job-type personnel system?

    Mr. Tokita: It’s about each and every employee being autonomous. If the general employees, the managers, the executive, and I are all autonomous individuals,  the collective body becomes stronger. Ideally, a strong individual can both work collaboratively and create a healthy conflict. We stopped uniform education by hierarchy and year of entry to the company. Instead, we encourage people to advance their careers through free educational programs online.

    Q: How do you get your employees to collaborate once they haves become autonomous?

    Tokita: We are currently working with in-house culture change teams. In order to work collaboratively, physical contact is necessary, so it is important to create space in various offices where people can discuss each other’s opinions.

    Q: It is said that young people are disadvantaged because they do not have enough experience of the job-type personnel system, what are your thoughts on this?

    Tokita: Is that so? I didn’t think it was an advantage or a disadvantage. I know OJT (on-the-job training) was inadequate. Rather, I hope that young people will be able to take on challenges without any restraints.

    Q: Some say that the reforms, which will reduce office space by 50 percent, are just about cutting costs.

    Mr. Tokita: It’s not just about cutting the office space in half. It will also cost money for renewal.

    The aim is not to cut costs, but to increase the choice of employees. The main objective is to help employees to feel engaged in their work. Whether there is a coronavirus pandemic or not, there are many employees who have problems with commuting time, childcare, and nursing care, and we have been building telework and satellite offices to solve this. It is true that Coronavirus became a driver to push this. But I’ve been thinking about it for a long time. Future behaviours and growth will show if this is correct or not

    Q: Many people say that the corona shock will accelerate digital transformation (DX).  Isn’t this is an opportunity for Fujitsu, which advocates DX for companies?

    Mr. Tokita: I’ve been working longer hours at home so I saw a daytime show which said that digital transformation of medical institutions, public health centers and education is very behind in Japan.

    However, DX does not take root just by promoting systemization and IT.  The essence of DX is whether each and every one of us can be autonomous, acquire skills, collaborate, and create new value. This is also a challenge for Fujitsu. No matter how much IT as a tool is implemented, it will not be the whole solution.

    Q: So DX hasn’t taken root in Fujitsu yet?

    Mr. Tokita: I don’t think it has.

    It doesn’t make sense for DX only to develop in certain industries. Fujitsu has been promoting IT by forming teams across industries. It will not function unless the whole aspect of an issue is grasped, rather than small points, and the issue is addressed as a society.

    Coronavirus has increased the need to do this, but we need a system that allows us to collaborate properly. It’s easy to standardize in the IT industry, but without a deeper or higher level of common understanding of rules, no one will be able to make it work.

    Q: Japan as a whole needs to deepen its understanding of DX. What should we do?

    Mr. Tokita: It will be difficult to discuss on a national basis. We have no choice but to move forward with small communities and companies. In that sense, Fujitsu has a responsibility. We are a global large company and have a mission to solve Japan’s problems because we are based in Japan.

    Inside the company, I often say, “Think about what it means to work for a large company.” Large companies have large company sized responsibilities. A large company can make big ripples in society – that’s a kind of responsibility.

    Mr. Tokita: We will make use of our own knowledge and experience. This will make Fujitsu stronger. Companies that have accumulated their own experience and can turn it into a business are definitely stronger. If you don’t do it yourself, you’ll end up in running a race in borrowed shoes, and you can’t be a strong company.

    If you want to hear more from Mr Tokita, he’s one of the keynote speakers at the Fujitsu ActivateNow digital event in October – more information here

    If you want to understand further about the history and changes to Japanese corporate HR systems, I made a 5 minute video on this for my Japanese Business Mysteries Explained series – here.

  • Japan – EMEA business update April 2026

    Japan – EMEA business update April 2026

    NYK on the acquisition trail

    Stolt-Nielsen has confirmed it will sell 50% of its stake in its LNG bunkering and small-scale specialist Avenir LNG to Japanese shipowner NYK. NYK has also expanded its dry bulk business by taking full control of Norway’s Saga Welco, an open-hatch bulker specialist. NYK Holding Europe (NHE) will acquire Westfal-Larsen’s 50% stake in Tongsberg-based Saga Welco.

    Japan-owned National Car Parks collapses

    The UK company National Car Parks has gone into administration. It was acquired by Japanese company Park24 as a majority owner and the Development Bank of Japan in 2017 from Australia’s Macquarie Group. Employee levels peaked in 2018/9 at 1,181 but turnover halved during the pandemic and never recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Park24 is a major parking operator in Japan, most known for its Time brand. Presumably it was hoping National Car Parks was an opportunity for global growth, possibly with a view to expanding EV charging and car clubs to NCP properties. However servicing debt became unsustainable with lower turnover, fixed costs and reduced profit.

    Nippon Sheet Glass in talks to be acquired by US fund Apollo

    NSG acquired the UK’s Pilkington in 2006, spending 3 billion pounds ($3.98 billion at current rates). As Pilkington was larger, and more global than NSG, it was seen as a reverse takeover. Despite restructuring after the 2008 financial crisis, NSG continued to make losses over the past twenty years, due to a sales slump in the European market and competition from China. The interest on the debt incurred from the Pilkington purchase had become a heavy burden on the company. Pilkington had 2,353 employees in the UK in 2016 and now has 1,600, out of around 12,000 employees in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region – a similar level to around 10 years ago.

    Fujitsu to double European defence employees to 2,000

    The search for alternatives to US IT suppliers and the need to increase defence spending across Europe has prompted Fujitsu to plan on sending 1,000 staff (the Nikkei Asia article implies from Japan rather than recruiting locally) to Belgium, Germany and other NATO countries over the next few years.

    SMFG to acquire Jefferies?

    Japanese financial group SMFG considering acquiring US investment bank Jefferies – which has over 1200 employees in its European HQ in London and offices in Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Dubai, Frankfurt, Lisbon, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Tel Aviv, Warsaw, Zurich

    Japanese style convenience stores may be coming to Europe

    “Consumer sentiment in Europe approaches that of Japanese, with a strong focus on food quality,” said 7-Eleven CEO Dacus + “there is a strong demand to purchase high-quality food at affordable prices” https://asia.nikkei.com/editor-s-picks/interview/7-eleven-parent-eyes-13bn-investment-in-overseas-expansion

    Japanese food sector continues to go global

    Japan’s Zensho Holdings has expanded its European footprint with the acquisition via its UK subsidiary Wonderfield Group of Polish food group Sushi & Food Factor – a leading Polish producer of packaged sushi and convenience food products supplying to 15 countries in Europe. In 2025, Wonderfield opened a new state-of-the-art production facility in West London, to supply sushi and convenience products to retail partners across the UK.

    Nikon divests Mark Roberts Motion Control after 10 years

    Nikon has agreed to sell camera robotics specialist MRMC to UK investment firm Blandford Capital in what looks to be a Management Buy Out. Nikon acquired MRMC in 2016 and it has been struggling to make a profit over the past ten years. It employs just over 100 people in the UK.

    Bridgestone divests Exhaust, Tyres and Batteries

    Bridgestone has sold its 2018 acquisition of UK company Exhaust, Tyres and Batteries to Oak Tyres. The company has 4 warehouses across the UK and employs around 500 people.

  • Two swallows make a summer?

    Two swallows make a summer?

    We were somewhat sceptical when the Financial Times greeted Mitsubishi Corporation’s $1bn acquisition of Norwegian company Grieg Seafood’s salmon farms as being part of a record breaking acquisition spree by Japanese companies. It seemed that here in Europe at least, Japanese acquisitions had not really picked up momentum at all, compared to the pre Brexit and pre pandemic years.

    Then today it was announced that Yusen Logistics is spending $1.45bn on acquiring Dutch healthcare logistics company Movianto – subject to EU approval.  NYK, the parent company of Yusen Logistics, had already acquired a majority stake in Swedish company Northern Offshore this year and UK company Global Freight Solutions and Dutch company Parts Express last year. Movianto has around 5,400 employees in Europe, primarily in the Netherlands, France and UK.

    Although Mitsubishi Corporation has a long history of involvement in salmon and seafood, stretching back to the mid 20th century, as the Financial Times article points out, the acquisition of salmon farms represents a more general trend of Japanese food related companies strengthening Japan’s involvement in the food supply chain, from farming through to restaurant chains. The most recent entrants into our Top 30 largest Japanese companies are Fulham Shore (The Real Greek and Franco Manca restaurant chains, now owned by Toridoll) and Yo! Sushi, now owned by Zensho.

    Yusen Logistics is already in our Top 30 largest Japanese companies in the UK, with 1,863 employees. If Movianto UK remains an independent company rather than merged into Yusen Logistics, it too will be in the Top 30, with 1,354 employees. If they are merged, Yusen Logistics will be the 4th largest Japanese company in the UK, after Nissan, Fujitsu and Kwik-Fit (owned by Itochu).

    Both NYK and Mitsubishi Corporation are in the same Mitsubishi group of companies, who have been key players in Japan’s global supply chains for the past 150 years.

    Rudlin Consulting is the Europe, Middle East and Africa Representative of Japan Intercultural Consulting, which provides post-merger integration cultural training and consulting.

     

  • Largest Japan owned companies in the UK – 2024

    Largest Japan owned companies in the UK – 2024

    The largest Japan owned companies in the UK employ around 65,000 people and have grown around 5% on average in terms of employee numbers in the year 2023 to 2024.

    The top 5

    The top three largest companies are the same as in 2015/6 – Nissan Motor Manufacturing with around 7,000 employees, down 500 from 2015/6, Fujitsu Services, with around 6,000 employees, down from nearly 10,000 in 2015/6. The third largest company, Kwik-Fit (owned by Itochu) has around the same number of employees (5,000) as they did nine years ago.

    Toyota Motor Manufacturing was the fourth largest Japan owned company in 2015/6 but has been overtaken by Dentsu UK and ARM (owned by SoftBank). Dentsu UK has grown significantly as a result of the merger of its UK regional operations – but also due to further acquisitions.

    New entrants

    New entrants for 2024 are the result of acquisitions in the food services sector – Toridoll, who acquired The Fulham Shore (brands including The Real Greek and Franco Manco), adding to their Marugame Udon chain, and Zensho, who acquired Yo! Sushi, through their purchase of Wonderfield, who also own Taiko Foods, a sushi supplier.

    Notable growers

    Companies which have grown at an above average rate over the past year include logistics companies Yusen Logistics and Vantec (owned by KKR Japan, mainly supplying Nissan), as well as other services sector companies such as SMBC Bank International, NTT Data UK and Dentsu International.  In the manufacturing sector, Marelli Automotive Systems (also owned by KKR Japan) has grown significantly, but is still 4% down on nine years ago, whereas Hitachi Rail, which is quadruple the size it was in 2015/6, shrunk its workforce by 4% over the past year.  Two companies with manufacturing in the UK – Mitsubishi Electric Air Conditioning and Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies – have both doubled in size since 2015/6.

    Drop outs

    Those companies who have dropped out of the top 30 since 2015/6 are largely those who have divested, ceased or cut down manufacturing operations, such as Honda, Toyoda Gosei, Japan Tobacco (closing its Gallaher factory) and Princes (divested by Mitsubishi Corporation). Pilkington UK, acquired by Nippon Sheet Glass in 2006, has halved in size and car part manufacturers Unipres, Denso and Yazaki have all cut back their workforces significantly.

    Non appearances

    Several Japanese companies undoubtedly have more than 1,000 employees in the UK, but do not disclose this. Sony Europe, MUFG Bank and Mizuho Bank are all branches, so do not have to publish annual reports in the UK showing their employee numbers. Uniqlo only discloses employee numbers for the whole of Europe.

    For further details, our Top 30 largest Japanese companies for 2024 is available for purchase and download online (£3+VAT) here.

  • Top 30 Japanese companies in EMEA – not much growth in 2023

    Top 30 Japanese companies in EMEA – not much growth in 2023

    We have finalised the Top 30 rankings for the largest Japanese employers in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region (download available below). As before,  the extent to which Japanese companies take the UN Sustainable Development Goals pretty seriously has had a noticeably positive effect on disclosure of data and transparency. But there are still some laggards in terms of the metric we focus on, which is the number and location of employees outside of Japan.

    Overall, the year from 2021/2 to 2022/3 has been one of very little growth for Japanese companies in Europe.

    83% of companies have the majority of their staff overseas

    More often than not, the detail on human resources in terms of diversity and inclusion in the various sustainability reports published by Japan headquarters is all about employees in Japan. And yet, 83% of the companies in our rankings have more than 50% of their employees overseas.  Those with less than 50% of employees overseas are the ICT companies – NTT, Fujitsu and NEC, along with Toyota and Asahi Glass. In some cases no clear figures were given for Japan and overseas employees, so we estimated  them based on employee numbers give for consolidated (Japan and overseas) and non-consolidated (which we took to be the Japan parent company).

    The non-disclosers

    NTT does not disclose the number and location of its staff, which is perhaps excusable as the huge consolidation and reorganisation of its group companies and overseas acquisitions is still working its way through.

    The two recruitment giants, Outsourcing and Recruit are notably lacking in transparency on employee numbers. The excuse may be that is difficult to calculate numbers on a consistent basis, given that in some countries, temporary workers on their books will count as employees. Outsourcing has had to delist from the Tokyo Stock Exchange and may be bought out by Bain, following investigation for fraud and inflating revenues and expenses. We estimate Outsourcing is now the second largest Japanese corporate employer in Europe, after Sumitomo Electric Industries, pushing Yazaki to third place.

    The other companies  who do not disclose regional data on employees are Sony, Toyota Tsusho, Japan Tobacco, Dentsu, Toyota Industries, Kyocera, Mitsubishi Electric  and Mitsubishi Corporation.  Japan Tobacco does  not even disclose how many employees are outside Japan at all. Some estimate can be made by looking at the employee numbers given for each location, on their website however.

    No growth?

    The lack of data from Outsourcing makes it very difficult to estimate the trend for the whole Top 30. We think their acquisitions in Europe over 2018 to 2021 may have grown the European workforce to 48,000. If we assume that this held level in 2022/3, then there are around 629,000 employees working for the biggest Japanese companies across the region and growth was only around 1%.

    The only companies who grew significantly in the region from FY 2021/2 to FY 2022/3 were Daikin (10%) and Dentsu (6%). Shrinkage was noticeable in the automotive sector – Nissan (-22%) . Toyota Motor (-5%) and Toyota Industries (-6%). Honda has dropped out of the Top 30 since the closure of manufacturing in the UK, but has shrunk further by 3%. NSG, which supplies automotive glass, has shrunk by 5% over the year.

    The influence of Europe through acquisitions

    The total employed in EMEA as a proportion of all employees in the Top 30 companies is 16%. Those companies with significantly above that proportion of employees in EMEA are NSG, Outsourcing, Japan Tobacco, Toyota Tsusho and the Asahi Group. The Asahi Group acquired many beer and alcohol brands in Europe around eight years ago, which was also when Toyota Tsusho acquired CFAO, a France headquartered company with substantial operations in Africa. NSG acquired Pilkington in 2006 and Japan Tobacco acquired Gallaher in 2007.

    The lack of any large scale acquisitions since 2021 is undoubtedly one of the factors behind the lack of growth of Japanese companies in the region.

    Click the link below for  a pdf (£3 + VAT) of the Top 30 Japanese employers in the EMEA region, showing ranking in 2022 and 2023, total global employees, % of employees overseas and number employed in EMEA:

    DOWNLOAD OF TOP 30 JAPANESE COMPANIES IN EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

  • Largest Japanese companies in the UK – 2023

    Largest Japanese companies in the UK – 2023

    We’ve decided to stop trying to compile the Top 30 largest Japanese employers in the UK by corporate grouping. Partly this is because a substantial number of Japanese companies in the UK have become branches, so do not report their employee totals to Companies House. Another reason is that corporate groups have restructured substantially through divestment, so there are more subsidiaries which are equity affiliates rather than part of the consolidated company group, or are owned by KKR Japan (does this make them Japanese or not?). Finally, many of the largest Japan-owned companies were acquired through acquisition, but are not particularly “Japanese” in terms of their branding or executives.

    Instead, we thought we’d look at the largest single Japan-owned companies – and it turns out that there are 31 who have over 1,000 employees. The full list can be downloaded  the link below.

    The new entrant into this Top 31 in 2023 was Snowfox, a food processing company acquired by Zensho. Snowfox owns Taiko, who make sushi for Waitrose and Sainsburys and also owns the YO! Sushi restaurant chain, as well as chains in the USA and Canada.

    In terms of growth, we already covered the fact that some of Dentsu UK’s and Dentsu International’s growth was due to the consolidation into Dentsu UK of its regional subsidiaries in Leeds, Edinburgh and Manchester, but there does also seem to be organic growth, and growth by acquisition too. The other companies showing double digit growth are mostly in the services sector – Yusen Logistics, Mitsubishi HC Capital and NTT Data. Only one manufacturer is showing double digit growth – Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies – a contract development and manufacturing organisation in Teesside.

    The automotive sector has shrunk further –  Nissan, Marelli (formerly Calsonic Kansei) and Honda Motor Europe had smaller workforces in 2023 than in 2022. Toyota has yet to file its accounts for 2023.

    At risk of shrinkage or closure in the years to come look to be Hitachi Rail, whose contracts being built at its Newton Aycliffe plant come to an end in 2024 and Fujitsu, who has told staff that they will run down their Ireland operations, taking on no new contracts. This could be a pilot for what is to come in the UK.

    Click here for download of the largest Japanese companies in the UK 2023

  • Japanese companies who contribute most money to CSR

    Japanese companies who contribute most money to CSR

    Toyo Keizai’s ranking of Japanese companies who have contributed the most financially to CSR activities (either donations or “in kind” activities) show that, unsurprisingly, those sectors which most directly impact Japanese citizen’s lives are also those who contribute the most.

    Financial services

    MUFG is at the top for 2021/2, up from 5th – it hasn’t contributed that much more than the previous year, rather the top 4 from last year (NTT, NTT Docomo, SoftBank and SoftBank Group) have contributed less.  The next biggest contributor of Japan’s financial groupings is SMFG at 17.  Mizuho is way down the rankings at #77.

    The insurers also feature heavily – Nippon Life at 11, Daiichi at 21, Meiji Yasuda at 22, Tokio Marine at 28, and Sompo at 29.

    Securities firms Daiwa is at #38 and Nomura at #39.

    Real estate, housing, construction

    Mitsui Real Estate is in second place, contributing Y8.7bn (US$64m) in 2021/2 compared to Y5.5bn the previous year.  Mitsubishi Real Estate just makes it into the top 100 at 98. Daiwa House is at #37 and Obayashi the construction company is at 63.

    Electronics/ICT

    Sony is at #3, Canon at #20, Fujitsu at #26, Panasonic at #35, Hitachi at #40 and Mitsubishi Electric at #50.

    Automotive

    Honda is in 4th place, down from 1st in 2019/20. Other automotive companies in the top 50 include Mazda at #23, Nissan at #25 and Aisin at 35.  There is no sign of Toyota – the likely explanation is that they do not disclose their contributions, rather than that they do not make any.

    Telecommunications

    Japan’s telecommunications companies are active in CSR – KDDI is in 5th place, SoftBank, SoftBank Group, NTT Docomo and NTT are all in the top 15.

    Pharmaceuticals

    Otsuka is at #6, Eisai at #30, Chugai at #32, Daiichi Sankyou at #56 but no sign of Astellas or Takeda.

    Alcohol, beverages and tobacco

    Suntory is at #7, Japan Tobacco at #10, Kirin at #13

    Of course for many of these companies, their turnover is so large, even a small percentage would put them into the top 50. The only trading company, which have turnover inflated by commodities and energy trading, in the top 50 is Mitsubishi Corporation however, at #48.

    Toyo Keizai has also calculated the rankings based on percentage contributed of turnover.  Mazda still makes it into the Top 50, as does Mitsui Real Estate and Eisai.

  • What is behind the 30% drop since 2016 in Japanese corporate expatriates?

    What is behind the 30% drop since 2016 in Japanese corporate expatriates?

    Mitsubishi Electric’s introduction of a system that will allow employees to work virtually in one country, while being based in another was described as an “evening scoop” by the Nikkei newspaper. The Nikkei then went on to position it as being aimed at employees based outside Japan, who can then work in Japan headquarters, thereby enabling Japan HQ to exert a more centripetal force on the rest of the world.

    I am not quite sure how much of a scoop this really is, as I already experienced a similar system, along with many other members of “Global” when I worked at Fujitsu in the UK ten years ago – I had an international role but my salary, tax and benefits were all paid as if I was a UK based employee. The UK operation was compensated for this by Japan headquarters.

    The solution to Japan’s demographic crisis?

    My second doubt about this is whether this is really the solution for Japan’s demographic crisis. Japan needs immigrant workers  because of its declining birth rate, in addition to which Japanese companies often talk about the importance of cultural diversity in their corporate headquarters, but nobody seems to want the hassle of actually allowing foreigners into the country to live. Only very specific categories of jobs can add value entirely through remote working – no surprises that Pasona, a Japanese staffing services company, has an offering to cover remote work from overseas – for foreign IT workers. If the aim is to add value to headquarters’ decision making and creativity through diversity, then some face to face, daily interaction is going to be needed.

    When I first saw the Nikkei headline, I thought Mitsubishi Electric’s new system was going to be for Japanese managers who need to manage overseas subsidiaries, but would rather do it remotely, than uproot their families to move abroad for five years or go solo or tanshinfunin, as it is known in Japanese. Expatriation is costly for the employer too. This is mentioned in the article, but as a secondary aim.

    Or increasing localization?

    Many other Japanese companies may be adopting similar systems, or just relying more on local managers to run things – as we noted in a previous article. As a consequence, there has been a 30% drop in the number of Japanese corporate expatriates since 2015/6, according to Toyo Keizai.  North America had the smallest drop in numbers (-24%) and Oceania the highest (-43%). The numbers of Japanese corporate expatriates in Europe fell 27% since 2015/6, and the total is about half that of North America. The decline set in before the pandemic, but certainly seems to have been accelerated by the inability to move people around the world, and the discovery that it was possible to oversee, if not hands-on manage, overseas operations remotely.

    Toyo Keizai’s data on corporate expatriates relies on self reporting through their surveys, so undoubtedly underreports the true number of expatriates. It is at least a consistent data set, with few anomalies, so the trend seems clear. It only records  6 Japanese expatriates for Mitsubishi Electric in Europe and Africa, and another 7 in the Middle East – the former seems very low.

    Mitsubishi Electric operates in more than 40 countries around the world, with overseas sales accounting for 50% of consolidated sales and 40% of consolidated employees (approximately 146,000). 11% of its sales and around 9,500 (6.5%) of its employees are in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. We had to estimate the 9,500 figure ourselves, as Mitsubishi Electric does not disclose regional breakdowns of its employees. If remote working across country borders really becomes dominant, at least at managerial rather than shopfloor level, then such data will become increasingly meaningless anyway.

    Breaking it down for EMEA

    Looking at the Toyo Keizai data for individual countries in Europe and the Middle East shows that the only country to show any positive growth in Japanese corporate expatriate numbers since 2016 is the United Arab Emirates. The fall in Japanese expats in the Netherlands (-19%) was not as steep as elsewhere in EMEA (-27% average, -26% for UK, -40% for Belgium ) and seems to be recovering a bit since the pandemic. The number of expats in Germany also fell by only 17% since 2016, having grown and surpassed the UK in 2019/20, but falling steeply since the pandemic began, with no signs of recovery yet.

  • Top 30 Japanese companies in Europe, Middle East and Africa 2022

    Top 30 Japanese companies in Europe, Middle East and Africa 2022

    Our top 30 Japanese companies in Europe, Middle East and Africa for 2022 (download available below) shows that there has been a modest growth in total employee numbers to 593,195,* up around 3% from 575,962 in 2021. We estimate over a million people are employed by Japanese companies in the EMEA region, so around 60% of them are working for these large corporate groups.

    This would be a 2% growth if Honda had not dropped out of the Top 30, thanks  to the closure of its Swindon UK factory, and been replaced with NYK Group. Japanese corporate groups where the number of employees in EMEA declined over the year were largely in the automotive sector – not only Honda – including Nissan (-8%), NSG (-6%) and Denso (-5%).

    Some of the growth in employees  was due to acquisitions, for example Hitachi‘s employees in the region expanded by nearly a third after the acquisition of the ABB Power Grids business. Sony has also grown in EMEA by 27% from 2021 to 2022 – this may be the result of multiple acquisitions, mainly of video game companies in the UK, Netherlands and Finland as well as in the  USA.

    This now means 12% of Hitachi‘s global employees and 11% of Sony’s global employees are in the EMEA region, compared to the top 30 average of 14%. The groups with a significantly higher than average proportion of employees in EMEA tend to be those with large manufacturing presence –

    • NSG (46% of global employees in the region), arising from its acquisition of Pilkington Glass
    • Sumitomo Electric Industries (26%), thanks to the labour intensive wire harness factories it has in Eastern Europe and North Africa
    • Toyota Tsusho, who have a significant presence in Africa since their acquisition of the French company CFAO
    • Asahi Glass

    Japan Tobacco, with 38% of its global employees in the EMEA region, has entered the top 10 of the largest Japanese corporate groups, up from number 16 – not necessarily from any expansion, but more due to the fact that previous employee estimates were our own, and proved to be an underestimate, judging by figures that are now given on the website for Europe and the Middle East.  It has not announced anything further about its operations in Russia, where it employs around 4,000 people, other than a suspension of investment.

    Recruit and Asahi also have more than 30% of their global employees in the EMEA – Recruit through its acquisition of USG People as well as Glassdoor and Indeed and Asahi through its acquisitions of various beer brands such as Grolsch and Peroni.

    The corporate groups that have expanded the most in the region since 2014/5 are Hitachi (262%), NTT (157%) and Panasonic (89%). Those groups which have contracted the most are Honda (-55%),  Asahi (-30%), Fujitsu  (-25%) , Nissan (-22%) and Ricoh (-15%).

    Click on this link for a pdf download of the Top 30 Japanese Companies in EMEA 2022

    *This number has been updated to reflect the inclusion of Mitsubishi Electric in the Top 30 (17 April 2023) and the inclusion of NYK Group (16th May 2023)

  • Top 30 Japanese companies in the UK – what’s changed over five years

    Top 30 Japanese companies in the UK – what’s changed over five years

    The total number of UK employees of the top 30 Japanese company groups fell 2.6% from 2019/20 to 2020/2021 – a strengthening of the downward trend in employee numbers since 2018/9. The peak of employment by the 30 largest Japanese company groupings in the UK was 97,827 in 2018/9 and this has now fallen by 5,000 to 92,851 employees. The top 30 represent around two thirds of the 137,000 people employed by 1,200+ Japanese companies in the UK.

    It’s taken longer than usual to compile the top 30 Japanese companies in the UK for FY 2020, because some of the biggest employers have been very late in filing their accounts at Companies House. Like their Japanese parents, most Japanese companies in the UK run their financial year from April to March.  We are defining the financial year as the year in which the majority of trading took place. So if FY2020 ended in the first half of 2021, companies then have nine months to file with Companies House, which would mean filing at the beginning of 2022. Some companies (we are looking at you NEC) did not file until the beginning of 2023, however.  In most cases this seem to have been due to a mixture of the impact of the pandemic, coinciding with major acquisitions and restructuring.

    2020/21 was the first year after the UK left the EU, on January 31 2020, so it may seem too early to assess the impact of Brexit. But as has been noted in this blog many times before, Japanese companies are risk averse, long term planners, so actually many of the plans were already in place and in progress, largely based on worst case scenarios. There is also a longer term trend of a shift from manufacturing (particularly automotive manufacturing) to services, in terms of who is in or out, or up or down the top 30.

    Who’s shrinking

    The company groups with above average decreases in employee numbers were MUFG (-21.91%), Konica Minolta (-20.13%)  and Denso (-18.8%). MUFG Bank is a branch of MUFG Bank Europe NV, however, so there is no official figure for the number of employees in London. The decrease is largely based on the reports that MUFG offered 500 managers of its 1500 staff redundancy in 2019 and that this would have fed through by FY2020.  It’s perfectly possible, however, that MUFG were simultaneously hiring more staff in other areas. There are another 670 or so employees at MUFG Securities, which is incorporated in the UK and shares an office with MUFG Bank. There are a further 250 so in a separate London office housing Mitsubishi UFJ Trust, Trust and Banking and Asset Management. MUFG usually says it has “around 2000” employees in London.

    Konica Minolta acquired various UK companies before Brexit, but since Brexit has shrunk down and consolidated its operations in the UK and is focusing more on their European HQ in Germany and also the Czech Republic.  The longer term trend of shifting away from manufacturing in the UK, to manufacturing elsewhere in Europe is seen at Denso, the Toyota group automotive parts manufacturer – UK employee numbers peaked in FY2018, and have been falling since, and are now 27.5% below the FY2014 level, whereas employment in the rest of the region is up 4.3% and global employee numbers, excluding UK, have risen 16% since FY2014.

    Who’s growing

    Company groups with the strongest growth over FY2019/20 to FY2020/21 were SoftBank, Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic. SoftBank was fulfilling its promise to the Takeover Panel to double its UK workforce to 3,500 people in the UK after acquiring ARM in 2016, but it has recently become clear that it has since lost 40% of those it hired and there are now around 2,800 people at ARM in the UK. This will not be reflected until the 2021/22 reports.

    Mitsubishi Electric is also, like MUFG, a branch of a European HQ in the Netherlands, so the employee total is an estimate, but it employs nearly 1,500 people at its air conditioning company and factory in Scotland, which is a UK incorporated company.  Air conditioning has been a high growth area for several Japanese manufacturers in Europe.

    Panasonic‘s growth is due to the acquisition of American software company Blue Yonder, which has around 300 employees in the UK. The bulk of Panasonic’s employees are in Panasonic UK and Panasonic Business Support Europe, which are both branches of Panasonic Marketing Europe in Germany – in Panasonic UK’s case since 2011. The European HQ was moved from the UK to the Netherlands in 2018 and it has not been disclosed what the trends in employment in these UK operations has been since then. The website says it employs over 400 people in its Bracknell offices, which is considerably lower than the 1,389 employees it had in 2018/9. If these figures can be regarded as comparable, then Panasonic has actually shrunk in the UK over the past few years, despite the Blue Yonder acquisition.

    The top 3

    Less significant changes in employee totals have resulted in a reshuffle of the top 3. The Hitachi group was the largest employer in the UK in FY2020, taking over from Nissan, which dropped to #3. Itochu moved up from #3 to #2. In Hitachi’s case, the growth was at Hitachi Energy (the recently acquired ABB power grids business), Hitachi Solutions and what was Hitachi Capital. The latter may have to be dropped from the total in future years as Hitachi now only owns 27% of it, and it has been renamed Mitsubishi HC Capital.  Similarly 51% of Hitachi Construction Machinery is being sold to Itochu and Japan Industrial Partners, so it will leave the Hitachi group.

    Itochu has considerable presence in the UK thanks to its acquisition of Kwik-Fit, with over 5,000 employees in FY2020 and Stapleton’s Tyres, with over 1,000 employees. There were rumours that Itochu was considering the sale of Stapleton’s and Kwik-Fit in 2020, but nothing seems to have developed since.

    Key changes compared to FY2015

    Five years’ ago, Fujitsu was the largest Japanese corporate group in the UK, with 9,892 people. It has lost 3,000 employees since, and was the fourth largest Japanese group in the UK in FY2020. As of FY2021, Fujitsu has 6,348 employees in the UK, 45% down on FY2016, compared to a 21% decrease globally, excluding the UK.  Growth at Fujitsu has been in India (and Fujitsu’s CTO is Indian) and in its global delivery centres in countries such as Poland and the Philippines.

    Honda was at #3 in FY2015 and had already fallen to #5 by FY2020 – before Swindon closed in July 2021. The closure of the Swindon plant will mean that Honda drop out of the top 30.

    Companies that have dropped out of the top 30 since FY2015 include Calsonic Kansei, which is now Marelli, since merging with Italy’s Magneti Marelli, with KKR as the main shareholder. KKR is American, but it is KKR Japan that has the stake. Marelli has over 1,700 employees in the UK, so maybe we should keep it in the top 30. The Marelli website indicates the global headquarters is in Japan – but the management team has plenty of non-Japanese on it. It’s another example of how it has become increasingly complex to define what a Japanese company is.

    Another automotive company to drop out of the top 30 is Yazaki. It had 1,345 employees in the UK in FY2015, and now has 890. Olympus has just dropped out of the top 30, not due to shrinkage so much (it had 1,362 employees in FY2015 and now has 1,389) as other companies growing more. JTI (Japan Tobacco International) has also dropped out of the top 30, since the closure of its Gallaher factory in Northern Ireland in 2017.

    Newcomers to the top 30 over the past five years are:

    • NTT following their acquisition and consolidation of many IT services companies including Dimension Data, itelligence, Everis and Keane
    • Outsourcing, who have acquired various recruitment and outsourcing companies in the UK 
    • NEC, who acquired Northgate Public Services
    • Mizuho – who expanded organically – but total employees are an estimate, as Mizuho Bank is a branch of Japan

    Predictions for 2021/2

    Around two-thirds of the 1200+ Japanese companies in the UK have filed their annual reports for 2021/2.  The data from these reports suggests a further 10,000 drop (-7.6%) in employment numbers, from 137,000 to 126,000.  4,000 of this will be due to the closure of Honda’s Swindon plant, and a further 750 or so due to the closure of related automotive companies.  For the top 30, there looks to be an overall decline in employee numbers, apart from Toyota.

    There have been no major acquisitions in the past couple of years so we do not expect there to be any new entrants to the Top 30. The shift to services will continue, as will the increasing lack of transparency as to how many people are actually employed in the UK by Japanese companies, thanks to many of the UK operations becoming branches, with the shift of the regional headquarter functions to the EU.

    Click the link below for a pdf of the Top 30 Japanese employers in the UK:

    DOWNLOAD OF TOP 30 JAPANESE EMPLOYERS IN UK

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