The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), the nation's most influential business lobby, will drastically revise the way it gives its annual assessment of the policies of the main political parties.
"We would like to start discussions for a zero-based" review, including whether or not to continue providing such an assessment, Fujio Mitarai, chairman of the federation, said last week.
Keidanren has traditionally assigned grades to the policies of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan that serve as a guideline for the federation's member firms when they make political donations.
In 2009, Keidanren for the first time forwent announcing its five-level rating on the policies of the two parties due to an abrupt change in the political situation following the DPJ's landslide election victory in August that ousted the long-ruling LDP.
"It is natural to cope with things such as changes in public opinion and a government change," Mitarai said, citing a DPJ campaign pledge to ban corporate donations.
On the nature of corporate donations, however, Mitarai said he retains the view that such outlays are part of companies' contributions to society.