Source
Every figure comes from the annual securities report (yuho) that each listed company files with the Financial Services Agency through EDINET, Japan's electronic disclosure system. We take each company's most recent report and read the figures from its machine-readable XBRL data rather than its PDF.
The dataset covers 3,789 domestic companies listed in Japan whose latest report was filed between 10 October 2025 and 30 September 2026. Most companies have a March year-end and file in June. A company's page shows which report it uses, with its EDINET document number, so any figure can be checked against the filing.
What each figure means
- Employees: the reporting company's own headcount at its year-end, excluding temporary staff, as it states it. For a holding company this is often small, because the staff sit in its subsidiaries.
- Average annual salary, age and tenure: for the reporting company's own employees. Salary usually includes bonuses and overtime pay; the definition is the company's own.
- Women in management: the share of managers who are women, under the Act on the Promotion of Women's Participation and Advancement in the Workplace. Companies define "manager" themselves, usually section manager (kacho) and above.
- Men taking childcare leave: men who took leave in the year as a share of men whose partner gave birth. Companies may count childcare leave only (1,984 do) or childcare leave plus other leave taken for childcare (347); the two are not directly comparable, so each page states the basis. The figure can exceed 100% (170 companies) because leave taken this year can be for a child born the year before.
- Women's pay as a percentage of men's: women's average annual pay divided by men's, for all employees, regular (full-time, indefinite) employees and part-time and fixed-term employees. 100% means parity. These are averages across the workforce, not pay for the same job, so they mostly reflect who holds senior and full-time roles. Read the all-employee figure with the other two: when women are concentrated in part-time work, it can be far below both.
Industry follows the Tokyo Stock Exchange's 33-sector classification. Market segment (Prime, Standard, Growth) comes from the Japan Exchange Group's list of listed companies.
Coverage
Workforce figures are reported by almost every company. The gender measures depend on size. The pay figure has been compulsory for employers with 301 or more employees since July 2022, and men's leave uptake for those with more than 300 since April 2025 (more than 1,000 before). Women in management was optional until April 2026, when it and the pay figure became compulsory from 101 employees; for most companies those first disclosures arrive in mid-2027. Until then, many smaller companies leave the gender measures out.
| Figure | Companies | Share | Of which, a subsidiary's figure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employees (parent company) | 3,753 | 99% | — |
| Average annual salary | 3,742 | 99% | — |
| Average age | 3,744 | 99% | — |
| Average tenure | 3,743 | 99% | — |
| Women in management | 3,035 | 80% | 253 |
| Men taking childcare leave | 2,739 | 72% | 328 |
| Women's pay as % of men's — all employees | 2,921 | 77% | 253 |
| Women's pay as % of men's — regular employees | 2,907 | 77% | 254 |
| Women's pay as % of men's — non-regular employees | 2,781 | 73% | 317 |
2,551 companies (67%) report all three gender measures.
Holding companies
A holding company with few employees of its own often reports the gender measures for its operating subsidiaries instead. Where the parent gives no figure, we show the first subsidiary it lists, usually its largest, and the company page names that subsidiary. We do not combine subsidiaries into a group figure.
What we change, and how we mark it
We publish figures as filed, except where the filing is plainly wrong. Every change is marked on the company page, and the figure as filed is kept in the data.
- Salaries in the wrong unit. Some companies enter average salary in thousands of yen in a field that expects yen. Where the corrected figure is plausible, we correct it (10 companies).
- Implausible values. A value that cannot be right (a negative pay ratio, a share of managers above 100%, a salary that no unit correction makes plausible) is left out rather than guessed at (12 companies).
- Pay gap filed as the difference. The law asks for women's pay as a percentage of men's. A few companies file the difference instead: 30 where the ratio is 70. We flag every unusually low pay figure and check it against the filing's own notes and the company's other disclosures. Where it is clearly the difference, we convert it: Emimen Co., Ltd., Mercari, Inc. Where the figure is low but real, we keep it: Global Link Management Inc., GLOME Holdings, Inc., Nittoh Corporation, Poppins Corporation, Premium Water Holdings, Inc., Strike Group Co., Ltd., T&D Holdings, Inc.
- Under review. Where we cannot tell from the filing, we withhold the figure and ask the company: BayCurrent, Inc., Soliton Systems K.K., Toda Kogyo Corp.
Company names
Listed companies appear under the English name in the Japan Exchange Group's list, or the English name in their EDINET filing. Subsidiaries appear under their own English name where they publish one; otherwise we romanise the Japanese name in modified Hepburn. We change only capitalisation and punctuation.
Updates
We refresh the data as each year's reports are filed. The date at the top of this page is the latest refresh. A company's page always reflects one report, so its figures are internally consistent but may be up to a year old.
Licence and credit
EDINET content is published under the Public Data License 1.0. This dataset is an edited version: the figures were extracted, standardised, checked and translated by The Hardest Market. It is not endorsed by the Financial Services Agency, and the original filings are authoritative.
Corrections
If a figure is wrong, or you are a company that would like a figure reviewed, write to editor@hardestmarket.com with the company and the EDINET document number shown on its page.