What changed since July
Six developments from July to September 2026
These are the changes from July to September 2026 that matter most if you sell technology or consulting services in Japan, or hire the people who do.
July 2026
Generative AI use more than doubled in a year
The government’s 情報通信白書 (Jōhō Tsūshin Hakusho, White Paper on Information and Communications) found 58.8% of people in Japan had used generative AI, up from 26.7% in the previous edition. 86.4% of companies now use it in at least one business process.
Source: 総務省 令和8年版 情報通信白書, overview (Japanese)16 July 2026
A national AI computing base with 27,500 GPUs
NVIDIA, the Japanese government and industry started a national AI infrastructure project. Noetra, a company whose 44 investors include SoftBank, Sony, NEC and Honda, will run an AI factory with more than 27,500 NVIDIA Rubin GPUs.
Source: NVIDIA release on PR TIMES; IT Leaders (Japanese)6 August 2026
More than 90% of financial institutions use generative AI
A Bank of Japan survey of 150 banks and other financial institutions found more than nine in ten using or trialling generative AI. The increase over the year was most noticeable at second-tier regional banks.
Source: 日本銀行 金融システムレポート別冊 (Japanese)August 2026
AI budget requests rise almost sixfold
Ministries asked for ¥2.94 trillion for AI-related spending in FY2027, against ¥502.7 billion in the FY2026 budget. The requests follow the second 人工知能基本計画 (Jinkō Chinō Kihon Keikaku, AI Basic Plan), approved by the Cabinet on 14 July. Requests are usually trimmed before the budget is set in December.
Sources: 内閣府 令和9年度AI関連予算要求; 人工知能基本計画 (Japanese)10 September 2026
Ransomware reports reach a half-year record
Police received 123 ransomware reports in the first half of 2026, the most for any half-year since the series began in 2020. 79 came from small and mid-sized companies. The main obligations of Japan’s new active cyber defence law started on 1 October.
Source: 警察庁 figures reported by @IT; Trend Micro on the law (Japanese)14 September 2026
Generative AI reaches core banking
Sony Bank and Fujitsu are using generative AI to build Sony Bank’s core banking system. They report 40% less development work and a development period 30% shorter.
Source: EnterpriseZine (Japanese)Companies using generative AI in at least one business process
Japan against the US, Germany and China. 情報通信白書 (Jōhō Tsūshin Hakusho) 2026, survey January to February 2026
Source: 総務省 令和8年版 情報通信白書, overview. Japan’s 2025 figure is from the 令和7年版 white paper.
Show the figures as a table
| Country | Share of companies |
|---|---|
| Japan, 2026 edition | 86.4% |
| Japan, 2025 edition | 55.2% |
| United States | 90.9% |
| Germany | 91.6% |
| China | 98.1% |
Hiring in Japan
The hiring market in numbers
Demand for engineers, consultants and salespeople rose again this year, and a record share of full-time employees changed jobs in 2025. Most of those people can’t be found by a LinkedIn search run from outside Japan.
Job openings per job seeker, by type of job
doda 転職求人倍率 (tenshoku kyūjin bairitsu), August 2025 and August 2026
- August 2025
- August 2026
Source: パーソルキャリア doda 転職求人倍率レポート, published 17 September 2026. The ratio divides job openings on doda by the job seekers registered with doda, so it describes that service rather than the whole market.
Show the figures as a table
| Type of job | August 2025 | August 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| IT and telecom engineers | 10.63 | 12.04 |
| Consulting and finance specialists | 6.00 | 6.63 |
| Sales | 2.71 | 3.14 |
| All jobs | 2.42 | 2.86 |
50.3%
of the hires Japan’s major companies plan for FY2026 are 中途採用 (chūto saiyō), mid-career hires. It’s the first time the share has passed half. It was 46.8% the year before.
Nikkei 採用計画調査, April 2026, as reported by 月刊総務7.6%
of full-time employees changed jobs in 2025, the highest share since Mynavi began its survey.
マイナビ 転職動向調査 202610.2M
people in work want to change jobs (転職等希望者, tenshoku-tō kibōsha), up 230,000 in 2025, while 3.3 million actually moved.
総務省 労働力調査 202585.5%
of Japanese companies say they don’t have enough people to lead digital transformation.
IPA DX動向2026, 1,799 companies3.4M
projected shortage by 2040 of people who can put AI and robotics to work, while clerical jobs face a surplus of about 4.4 million.
経済産業省 2040年の就業構造推計, March 20265.01%
average pay rise in the 2026 春闘 (shuntō), the spring wage round. It’s the third year in a row above 5%.
連合 final tally, 3 July 20265M
LinkedIn members in Japan, about 7% of the 68.5 million people in work (July 2026). BizReach, a Japanese service, has 3.53 million members that recruiters can approach.
LinkedIn Japan via MarkeZine; 総務省 労働力調査; Visional results96th
Japan’s rank out of 123 countries in the EF English Proficiency Index 2025. Leaders who can run a business in Japanese and report in English come from a small pool.
EF EPI 2025 via nippon.comWhat this means for your hire
Four things to plan for
- Expect competition for every strong candidate, most of all for engineers and consultants.
- Mid-career moves are now normal at Japanese companies. That makes the people you want more open to a move than a few years ago, and it raises the risk of losing your own staff.
- Pay is rising by around 5% a year. The weak yen offsets much of that in dollar terms, as the business case below shows.
- We recommend running the search in Japanese, through referrals and direct approach as well as LinkedIn. It improves your chances of seeing the whole market rather than the few people who are visible online.
Executive search in Japan
How we run a Japan leadership search
We map the whole market before we approach anyone, so you choose from everyone suitable and not only the people who happen to be looking. It improves the odds that you hire the best person available, and it makes each later decision more accurate.
01 · Map
The whole market, in Japanese and English
We identify every credible candidate for the role, including people who aren’t on LinkedIn, and show you the map before any approach.
02 · Assess
Evidence before you meet anyone
You get a ranked shortlist backed by references and discreet back-channel checks, so interviews start from facts.
03 · Close
One partner from start to finish
The partner you meet runs the search and the close. We work alongside your regional talent team, who keep full visibility of the process.
Our track record
See the full track recordCountry Manager placements
Recorded Future, Fastly, Chainalysis, Zenity
Cybersecurity
Glean
AI
Past placements
SUSE, Celonis, Splunk
Go-to-market hires
Fivetran, Databricks
Searches now closing
As of October 2026. We don’t name clients while a search is running.
- Country Manager, enterprise softwareA transformation leader to take the Japan business to cloud and secure AI.
- Country Manager, data platformThe Japan launch phase, including building the go-to-market team.
- Country Manager, cybersecurityA succession hire to take the Japan business to its next stage of growth.
- Commercial Sales Director and Vice President, AI infrastructureSenior sales leaders to win AI factory and data centre business in Japan.
We’re taking on new searches for the fourth quarter. If you’re planning a Japan leadership hire, book a call.
Murray Clarke
Founding Partner, CEO
Technology and enterprise leadership
- Placing Country Managers and presidents in Japan since 2003
- More than 70 Country Manager appointments
- ManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN) bought his last search firm and made it Experis Executive
- Studied at the University of Tokyo on a Monbusho scholarship, and works in English and Japanese
Hiroshi Torobu
Partner
Consulting and professional services
- Eleven years recruiting in Japan, on executive and senior appointments across consulting, technology and manufacturing
- Partner appointments into a Big 4 consulting firm in Japan
- Country Manager appointments for overseas firms setting up in Japan
Partner, Managing Director and Director searches inside consulting firms.
Guides to read alongside this page
Leadership
Japan Country Manager: Builder, Translator or Caretaker?Why the first hire is more than a senior salesperson, and how to choose the right profile for your stage.Read the guide →Cost
The ¥70M Question: what Japan people costs really look likePay, hiring risk and the real cost of building a first Japan team.Read the guide →Entity
EOR vs GK vs KK: what foreign tech companies should knowHow the entity you choose affects hiring, and how the market reads your commitment.Read the guide →Next step
Talk to us about your Japan hire
Thirty minutes on the role, the market for it and what it will take to hire well. You speak with the partner who would run the search, and you leave with our view of that market whether or not it becomes a search.