Overview

• Keizai Doyukai accepted Sinao Takeshi’s resignation on September 30 after an emergency board meeting split over his continued tenure.
• Iwai Mutsuo, the Japan Tobacco chairman and senior vice chair at Doyukai, will serve as acting representative until a successor is chosen.
• The association’s ethics panel had concluded that a resignation recommendation was appropriate before the board’s deliberations.
• Sinao said he will skip the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy’s October 1 session despite keeping his private-sector seat.
• He previously stepped down as Suntory Holdings chairman on September 1, and the episode has intensified scrutiny of Doyukai’s decision-making and governance.