By Tomoyasu Hirano

On 9 March 2026, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) announced the names of companies certified as ‘Excellent KENKO Investment for Health (KIH) Corporations’ for the 2026 financial year. KIH is an initiative launched in 2017, developed using the ‘Healthy Company’ concept and the ‘Corporate Health Achievement Award Winners’ schemes as benchmarks. The initiative recognises companies which  strategically implement initiatives in their business to support and promote employee health. In Japan, where the population is ageing rapidly and birth rates are declining, extending healthy life expectancy and ensuring appropriate medical care are key challenges. The KIH certification aims to support companies that actively invest in employee health, by promoting workplace health initiatives and enhancing employee engagement.  

Meanwhile, for companies, certification as an Excellent KIH Corporation is expected to enhance social standing, reduce staff turnover and increase job applicants by reinforcing an image as a ‘White Company’. Although there is no clear legal definition of a ‘white company’, the term is widely used and recognised in Japan. It refers to companies that maintain sound long-term management whilst prioritising employee wellness and satisfaction through appropriate working hours, adequate leave, fair treatment, consideration for health, and opportunities for growth. On the same day that METI announced the KIH corporations for 2026, Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) announced on its website that it had been certified for the 10th consecutive year in the large enterprise category of the KIH Programme, commonly known as the ‘White 500’ (Figure 1). 

Ryuichiro Hazama, Director-General of the Insurance Bureau at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) was invited as a guest speaker at the ‘KIH AWARD 2026’ ceremony for Outstanding Organisations held in Tokyo on 11 March. Hazama played a key role in revising the Health Promotion Act in Japan 2017 to strengthen the ‘P measure’ (protecting people from tobacco smoke) of the MPOWER package of measures to support implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). As the Ministry supports KIH on the grounds that cooperation between companies and insurers to promote employee health is expected to improve employee well-being and reduce medical costs, this is very concerning. 

In the fields of environmental, social and governance  and/or sustainable investment, mechanisms have been established to exclude industries, such as those manufacturing tobacco products and weapons, from investment portfolios. The MHLW should urge METI to take corrective action, including adopting exclusionary measures agains the tobacco industry. It is imperative to strengthen implementation of FCTC Article 5.3 which recocnises there is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the interests of the tobacco industry and those of public health policies. Japan Tobacco must not be permitted to position itself as an organisation that prioritises the health of its employees whilst simultaneously profiting from its lethal products and undermining public health policy.  

Author  

Tomoyasu Hirano, Professor, Faculty of Human Sciences, Osaka University of Economics

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 

Editage (www.editage.com) was used for English language editing.