Consultancies that design pay structures, incentive and executive pay, benefits and corporate pensions, and the firms whose salary surveys are used to benchmark pay in Japan.
Related: Corporate DC and iDeCo: contribution limit rises to 62,000 yen a month · Employees' Pension: remuneration cap rises from 650,000 yen to 750,000 yen in three steps · Mandatory retirement age
Free public services first
- MHLW Basic Survey on Wage Structure
Annual government wage statistics by industry, firm size, occupation, age, tenure and sex, free to download. English tables lag the Japanese release. For: Anyone.
Providers (9, alphabetical)
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Aon Solutions Japan Ltd.
Runs Radford and McLagan pay surveys and advises on reward, retirement allowance administration and pension plan design.
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Benefit Strategies K.K.
Sets up and runs corporate DC pensions and benefits programmes, manages medical check-ups and acts as a group insurance agency.
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Deloitte Tohmatsu Tax Co. (Reward, Employment Tax & Share Plans)
Advises on executive pay, share plans and employment tax, and runs an executive compensation survey with a trust bank.
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EY Strategy and Consulting Co., Ltd. (corporate pension advisory)
Advises plan sponsors, including foreign-owned firms, on corporate DC pension law changes and retirement plan reviews.
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Human Resources Governance Leaders Co., Ltd. (HRGL)
Designs executive compensation and supports compensation and nomination committees, mainly for listed Japanese companies.
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McLagan (Aon) – McLagan Partners Asia, Inc. Tokyo
Runs pay surveys and advises on compensation design for banks, securities firms and asset managers in Japan.
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Mercer Japan Ltd.
Runs the Total Remuneration Survey and advises on job grading, pay structure, retirement allowance, DC pensions and benefits.
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Pay Governance Japan K.K.
Gives independent executive pay advice to boards and compensation committees, including incentive and equity plan design.
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PwC Labor and Social Security Attorney Corporation
Sharoushi corporation that designs evaluation and pay systems and advises on equal pay, social insurance and benefits.
Details come from each firm's own published information and public registers, checked 2026-10-14.
How firms are listed
Listing is free and every firm meets the same criteria: it serves employers in Japan, it can work with clients in English (except where a category says otherwise), and we can confirm it from a public register (sharoushi, bar or gyoseishoshi registration, a labour-ministry licence or notification) or at least its corporate number. We do not list recruitment agencies, executive search, staffing or RPO firms, because the publisher, Makana Partners, works in that field. Firms appear in alphabetical order. A listing is not an endorsement, and no one can pay to be listed or to change how they appear.
To correct or remove a listing, or to suggest a firm, write to editor@hardestmarket.com.