Kosaku Inaba, chairman of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, will resign in July next year, and is likely to be succeeded by Nobuo Yamaguchi, 75, vice head of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry and chairman of Asahi Chemical Industry Co., JCCI officials said Saturday.
Inaba, 76, chairman of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry and chairman of Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co., is scheduled to end his second six-year term as JCCI head in November.
In February, Inaba made clear his intention to serve a third term, drawing criticism from JCCI members.
There is a gentlemen's agreement within the JCCI that the chamber head and vice chief should serve no more than two terms. Inaba's announcement in February, made without prior in-house consultations, created a stir.
Inaba's planned resignation in July 2001 is viewed as a compromise, and will let him step down after chairing an international conference of heads of chambers of commerce and industry from other countries in Tokyo next spring.
JCCI is one of Japan's most powerful industry lobbying groups.