Katsumi Shimizu has been somewhat sleep-deprived in the last few months—because of Japan’s annual shareholder meetings. He is on a mission to make them actually count for something.


Shimizu Shimizu is chief of corporate governance operations at Japan’s Pension Fund Association, which manages 11 trillion yen ($95.5 billion) and represents Japan’s corporate pension funds. This proxy season—which reached its zenith in Japan four weeks ago, when half of all companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange held meetings on the same day —the PFA has been on a crusade to advocate for shareholders. Says Shimizu, frankly: “We don’t vote for ...