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Who are the biggest foreign companies in Japan?

Who are the biggest foreign companies in Japan?

The biggest foreign company in Japan is Toyo Keizai as of 2018.

Naganasu has not included minority foreign owned companies such as Nissan, who were top of the rankings last time. This means Accenture (headquartered in Ireland) has shot to the top, with a 70% increase in employee numbers from 7,600 in 2018 to 13,000 in 2020. 

Gibraltar Life Insurance,  a Japan only brand, formerly known as Kyoei, acquired by US company Prudential Holdings in 2001 is still at #2 with 12,731 employees.

Naganasu has also not included Sharp, 65% owned by Taiwanese Hon Hai, which was at #3 before.

The largest European-owned Japanese company is Bosch, at #6 with 5,333 employees.  VSN (a staffing company acquired by Swiss company Adecco in 2012) has risen to #10 from #31 with 4, 271 employees, a third larger than in 2018. IKEA has also grown in Japan, from 2,700 employees at #36 to #16.

As in 2018, there is a lack of British owned companies in the top 50.  The only one included by Naganasu is AstraZeneca at #19 with 3,000 employees. What happened to GSK, which was at #28 with 3,300 employees in 2018 is not clear. Perhaps they have shrunk to below 2,000 employees, so were not in the top 50. Alternatively, as we’ve often noticed with Toyo Keizai, if you don’t respond to their questionnaires, you don’t get included.

Other European companies in the 2020 top 50 are Adecco, L’Oreal, Bayer, Nestle, Philips, Valeo (French automotive supplier), Triumph (Swiss underwear company) and Autoliv (Swedish automotive company).

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