Japan
The zero — and the parallel to the US in 2015
Japan is the starkest baseline in our dataset: in 2024, not a single Nikkei 225 company included LGBTQ+ people in its board diversity policy. Yet Japan has proven it can move when a target exists — government-backed gender targets are reshaping Prime Market boards on a deadline. LGBTQ+ inclusion simply doesn’t have one yet. The US started at 2 companies in 2015; Japan is where measurement starts at zero.
The regulatory framework
Japan’s comply-or-explain machinery exists and works — it is simply pointed almost entirely at gender and internationalization. No race/ethnicity, national-origin (beyond "non-Japanese"), or LGBTQ+ dimension appears in any Japanese disclosure framework.
The Corporate Governance Code
The FSA/TSE Code encourages boards to ensure diversity and to disclose policies and measurable targets for promoting women, non-Japanese nationals, and mid-career hires to senior roles. Diversity typically surfaces through board skills matrices with a gender column rather than demographic disclosure. The Code’s first full revision since 2021 was finalized July 21, 2026.
Prime Market gender targets
Following the 2023 Women’s Empowerment package, TSE Prime Market companies are asked to appoint at least one female officer by 2025 and reach 30% women in executive roles by 2030. The 2025 interim reading: 17.7% female officers against a 19% target — narrowly short, keeping pressure on 2030.
Workforce disclosure is expanding
From April 2026, mandatory public disclosure of the gender pay gap and the ratio of women in management extends to employers with 101+ employees (previously 301+). Sustainability disclosure in annual securities reports already includes workforce-level gender metrics.
Proxy advisors are tightening, not retreating
In the same cycle they suspended or softened US diversity policies, both major proxy advisors raised their Japan gender thresholds: Glass Lewis to 20% gender-diverse boards for Prime Market companies (2026), and ISS from one female director to 10% (effective February 2027). Japan saw no anti-DEI backlash at all.
What changed since our last report
Dated developments from mid-2024 through July 2026, compiled for the OutQUORUM 2026 cycle. Each item links to its source.
- Oct 2023 → ENACTED
TSE Prime Market gender targets in force through the period
Prime Market companies should endeavor to appoint at least one female officer by 2025 and reach 30% or more female officers by 2030 — effort-based targets tied to the Prime Market reform, with action-plan disclosure encouraged.
- Jun 11, 2025 ENACTED
Women’s Active Engagement Act extended and expanded
The amendment extends the Act to 2036 and, from April 1, 2026, expands mandatory gender pay-gap and women-in-management disclosure to employers with 101+ employees — feeding the officer-pipeline data ecosystem underpinning board-level targets.
- 2025 DATA
Japan narrowly misses its 19% interim target for female officers
Cabinet Office and market data put the female officer ratio at Prime Market companies at 17.7% against the government’s 19% interim target for 2025 — a precise, current gap metric that strengthens the case that disclosure regimes need enforcement teeth.
- Apr–May 2026 PROPOSED
FSA/TSE consult on Corporate Governance Code revisions
The Expert Panel’s draft revisions drew 147 comment letters, including from global investors such as Norges Bank Investment Management.
- 2026 cycle POLICY
Glass Lewis raises its Japan bar to 20%; ISS moves to a 10% threshold
Glass Lewis now generally recommends against the chair of Prime Market boards under 20% gender diversity (up from 10%); ISS raised its Japan minimum from one female director to 10%, effective February 2027. Japan is one of the few markets where proxy-advisor diversity expectations tightened in this period.
- Jul 21, 2026 ENACTED
Corporate Governance Code (2026 revision) finalized
The first full revision since 2021 — finalized weeks before OutQUORUM 2026 publishes, the freshest governance development in any covered market. Diversity provisions (measurable goals for women, non-Japanese nationals, and mid-career hires; diverse board composition) were consolidated in the streamlined Principle structure.
What isn’t measured doesn’t count, and we’re here to make sure it does.
The data
The Nikkei 225 has the lowest disclosure rate we track alongside Canada and Euronext — and the only true zero: no Nikkei 225 company included LGBTQ+ people in its board diversity policy in the 2024 baseline.
Nikkei 225
Full dashboard →Our guidelines
Out Leadership has not yet published board diversity guidelines for Japan — an obvious next market. The founding OutQUORUM logic applies with full force here: what is measured can grow, and in Japan measurement starts at zero, exactly where the Fortune 500 was in 2015.
See the published guidelines for the US, UK, Australia, and Hong Kong →