The Nippon Keidanren is working on a set of guidelines aimed at encouraging member companies to donate to political parties and evaluate their policies. I would like to provide some background on the objectives of this ongoing effort.
A recent court ruling in a case involving life insurance firms recognized political donations as one of the tools companies use to contribute to society. Supporting Japan's parliamentary democracy through political donations is an activity they are required to engage in to fulfill their role as good "corporate citizens."
Of course, business donations are restricted under the Political Funds Control Law. For example, businesses can only donate to political parties, since donations to individual lawmakers were banned in 2000 following a series of influence-peddling scandals. There is also a limit to the amount of money a company can donate in a year, and that number varies in accordance with each company's capitalization. While the maximum annual limit is 100 million yen, no Japanese company uses its full quota. And the names of donors whose contributions exceed 50,000 yen are made public.