Headline figures
- Pay. The median company pays an average of ¥8.29M a year, against ¥6.61M across all listed companies.
- Women in management. A median of 16.8%, against 9.1% for all listed companies.
- The gender pay gap. Among regular employees, women's average pay is 78.3% of men's at the median company (74.8% market-wide).
- Fathers' leave. A median of 87.5% of eligible fathers took childcare leave (82.2% market-wide).
- Boards. Women are 16.7% of directors and auditors at the median company (14.3% market-wide); 8 companies name an HR leader among their officers.
What's inside
- Key findings
- The industry at a glance, against all listed companies
- Pay, age and tenure: the highest average salaries and the differences by company size
- Women in management: the distribution, the leaders, and three years of trend for the same companies
- The gender pay gap and fathers' leave
- Boards, published targets for women in management, and executive pay
- Appendix: the figures for all 81 companies
- Sources and method
Look inside
How it is made
Every figure is computed from the companies' annual securities reports. Medians are of the companies that report each figure, with counts shown. Company names appear only in tables and rankings computed from public filings.
Questions
Is this about Japan only?
Yes. It covers the 81 Japanese listed companies in the pharmaceuticals industry group of the Tokyo Stock Exchange classification, compared with all Japanese listed companies.
Where does the data come from?
From the latest annual securities report each company filed with the Financial Services Agency through EDINET, as of 2026-10-14.
What format is it?
A 11-page PDF in English. Polar emails a download link straight after payment and handles tax and the receipt.
Can my team share one copy?
One purchase is for one reader. For a team licence, a purchase order or an invoice, write to editor@hardestmarket.com.