Geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic shocks put Japan in the spotlights last year, but the country’s corporate access and sales firms were prepared.

“Rising geopolitical risks and major macro events shifted focus away from a US-centric market toward greater interest in non-US markets, boosting attention on Japan, while we faced growing competitive pressure across Japan and overseas” was the summation of Atsushi Watanabe, managing director and head of APAC Corporate Access at Nomura Securities Co., Ltd.

This resulted in a broad demand for corporate access in Japan from a wide range of global investors, according to Watanabe, reflecting a market led by large-cap themes such as AI, semiconductors, defense, and financials.

“Demand for corporate access was skewed toward these large-cap names, with particularly strong interest in interactions with C-level management,” Watanabe said. “We aim to leverage our corporate access and content to expand into other products and services, deepen business relationships, and contribute to the firm as a whole.”

It also highlights why Nomura was once again voted No. 1 in Extel’s annual ranking of Top Corporate Access Providers in Japan.

To select the members of Extel’s 2026 leaderboard, participants in the 2026 Japan Research Team and Japan Executive Team Surveys were invited to provide feedback on the firms that provided the best corporate access based on specified attributes including conferences; logistics; field trips; road shows; team quality and expert access.

There was movement further down the rankings with SMBC Nikko Securities improving one spot to take runner-up in this year’s survey. Daiwa Securities Group dropped one place to third. Morgan Stanley was up a place to take fourth, and Mizuho rounded out the top five.

While corporate access has weathered challenges over the past five years—from pivoting to virtual and eventually hybrid offerings during the Covid pandemic to unprecedented investor demand—the formula for staying a top team means leaning into turbulent times, according to Watanabe.