[1][2] The federation is commonly referred to as "Keidanren", its 1,601 members consist of 1,281 companies, 129 industrial associations, and 47 regional economic organizations (as of June 15, 2010).

[5] This view was not shared by all business leaders, with Rakuten president Hiroshi Mikitani leaving the federation partly over this issue.

Masayoshi Son of Softbank publicly objected to the focus on restarting the nuclear plants, but didn't leave the federation over it.

[6] Keidanren and its predecessor bodies had a long history of providing substantial political donations to the Liberal Democratic Party.

In the lead-up to the 2009 general election the Democratic Party of Japan made a pledge to ban political donations from companies and organizations.