Cabin crew error costs Japan Airlines CEO 30% salary cut — But it’s not new to Japanese corporates

Japan Airlines Chief Executive Officer Mitsuko Tottori will take a 30% cut from her monthly salary for two months following a recent “alcohol-related incident” involving cabin crew members in a bid to “show responsibility”, according to a report.

The airlines called the incident an “extremely serious management error,” Business Insider reported Friday, adding that two managers responsible for security and cabin operations would take a 20% pay cut for a month.

A Japan Airlines spokesperson told BI that all other directors and senior managers will receive a 10% discount for one month.

What was the incident?

According to Kyodo News, the disciplinary actions came after two flight attendants drank the day before a domestic flight, even though company policy prohibits drinking for a certain period of time before a flight.

One cabin crew member was fired, while another crew member was suspended for ignoring policy, the spokesman told BI.

“Through these measures, we demonstrate our uncompromising determination to strengthen our oversight and implement fundamental organizational reform,” the spokesman said. “We accept full responsibility for the structural weaknesses and the inadequacy of our previous security measures that failed to prevent this incident.”

Japanese corporate culture

Cutting a CEO’s salary to show responsibility for an employee’s mistake is standard practice in Japanese corporate culture.

Curtis Milhaupt, a Stanford Law School professor who specializes in Japan’s legal system, told Business Insider that resignations of top executives can be expected in some cases.

“A senior executive’s voluntary pay cut as a sign of remorse for employee misconduct is a standard feature of Japanese corporate culture,” he said, “and is not a requirement stipulated in the company’s charter or bylaws.”

Many senior managers in Japan have previously taken pay cuts due to employee misconduct.

In December 2024, Kentaro Okuda, chairman of Japanese investment bank Nomura Holdings, apologized and took a pay cut for three months after a former employee was accused of several crimes, including attempted murder and robbery, according to a report by Reuters. Other senior executives also took pay cuts.

In January 2025, managers at MUFG Bank, Japan’s largest bank, took a three-month pay cut after an employee was accused of stealing $9 million in valuables from customers’ safes, the Associated Press reported.

Such financial discipline measures, while not uncommon in Japan, are often more symbolic than a foolproof measure to stop corporate abuses, Milhaupt said.

“It’s just a way to convey a sense of responsibility to the public,” Milhaupt said. “There is a lot of corporate abuse in Japan, as everywhere else. So it is doubtful that these expressions of regret effectively deter abuses.”

At least in Japan, corporate responsibility comes with a pay cut and an apology.