Questions shareholders ask at the AGM 16
Running the AGM and counting votes
On a close vote, how the votes of shareholders present on the day were counted decides how the result should be read. The notes to each company's extraordinary report describe its counting method. Foreign shareholders look for whether they can read the vote counts, and the method, in English.
Published 19 October 2026; sources re-checked 24 October 2026. Vote figures come from extraordinary reports and company disclosures.
The questions at stake
On a close vote, how were the votes of shareholders present at the meeting counted? By applause, or by ballot? How many votes were left uncounted?
Our summary of the issue that the notes to extraordinary reports raise.
Change the AGM record date so that shareholders can read the annual securities report before they vote.
Summary of articles changes proposed at several companies in 2026. Covered in theme 07
What an answer needs to contain
- The counting method: how votes cast in advance and votes cast on the day were combined, and how votes on the day were confirmed.
- Uncounted votes: why some votes were not added, and whether they were included in the denominator of the approval ratio.
- Excluded votes: votes excluded by law (for example, the counterparty in a buyback from a specific shareholder).
- Floor amendments: whether they were put to a vote and counted.
- In English, with vote counts: a translation of the voting results.G6
How companies count (from the notes to extraordinary reports)
- Taiyo Holdings (4626), 2025: on the proposal to remove the president (49.90% support), a ballot was held at the meeting to reflect the intentions of shareholders present accurately, and those votes were added to the votes cast in advance. Theme 05 →
- Fuji Media Holdings (4676), 2025: resolutions were confirmed from advance votes and applause on the day. For the approval ratios, the company collected voting slips from shareholders present after the meeting; votes for which no slip was returned were treated as abstentions. The report notes that the figures therefore may not exactly reflect the applause at the time of the vote.
- Fuji Media Holdings (4676), 2026: shareholders moved amendments to the dividend and director proposals. Because the original proposals passed, the amendments were treated as rejected and their votes were not counted.
- Osaka Steel (5449), 2026: on the proposal to buy back the parent's shares, the parent's votes were excluded from the count, in line with the Companies Act. For shareholder proposals the report gives the share voting against, not the approval ratio. Theme 08 →
- Many companies: the notes say that votes of shareholders present whose position could not be confirmed were not added, because the advance votes already decided each resolution. Mitsui Kinzoku (5706), in 2026, states that it included those votes in the denominator of the approval ratio.
The same "approval ratio" can rest on a different denominator, and treat votes on the day differently, from one company to the next. The closer the vote, the more the notes matter.
Publishing in English
MUFG (8306) translates the extraordinary report itself, so the vote counts, the requirements for adoption and the notes on counting are all in English. Stella Chemifa (4109) also gives vote counts in its English voting results (G6 = 5). By contrast, Taiyo Holdings (4626) and Mitsui Kinzoku (5706) say only whether each proposal passed (G6 = 2), and Fuji Media Holdings (4676) publishes no English voting results (G6 = not found).
Sources
- Extraordinary report: 79th AGM
- Extraordinary report: 84th AGM
- Extraordinary report: 85th AGM
- Extraordinary report: 48th AGM
- Extraordinary report: 101st AGM
- Extraordinary Report (translation)
- Japan IR Index review records: 4109, 4626, 4676, 5706 (September–October 2026)