Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Japan Business Federation is an economic organization commonly known as Keidanren. It represents big business in Japan and is considered the most conservative of the country's three major private-sector business associations.
The Japan Business Federation was founded in May 2002. It formed through the merger of Keidanren, established in 1946, and Nikkeiren, established in 1948, with Nikkeiren absorbed into Keidanren.
Yoshinobu Tsutsui of Nippon Life is the current chairman of the Japan Business Federation. He has held the position since May 2025.
The Japan Business Federation called for the restart of Japan's nuclear plants after the March 11 disaster and their subsequent shutdown. Not all members agreed; Rakuten president Hiroshi Mikitani left the federation partly over the issue, while Softbank's Masayoshi Son objected publicly but stayed.
As of the 15th of June 2010, the Japan Business Federation had 1,601 members. These included 1,281 companies, 129 industrial associations, and 47 regional economic organizations.
The Japan Business Federation suspended its donation programs after the Democratic Party of Japan won the 2009 general election on a pledge to ban corporate and organizational political donations. The ban was never fully codified due to funding scandals and legal loopholes, and the federation's giving continued through the LDP's return to power after the 2012 election.