Based on a representative survey, Nomura's Kengo Nishimura has summarized the results of proxy voting in the 2012 AGM season, in the report which can be downloaded below. His major conclusions, and some of the more salient data results:
Greater average votes in favor, but proposals at some companies encounter heavy opposition
Shareholder proposal that received 4th highest support percentage from shareholders: Amendment to Articles of Incorporation: disclosure of training policies for board members, and training actually performed (Mizuho Holdings)
On average, each foreign and domestic institutional investor voted against nominated directors at 19-23% of all AGMs
Domestic institutions vote for shareholder proposals at 4.2% of AGMs; foreign institutions, at 12.4%
About 35% of individual investors do not vote yes on all of their proxy cards
Focus in 2013 likely to remain on independence of external directors andexecutive remuneration
Looking for rise in number of companies listening to investors in the next year
Download the full report (click on name of the file in blue)
The Board Director Training Institute (BDTI) is a "public interest" nonprofit in Japan dedicated to training about directorship, corporate governance, and related management techniques. It is certified by the Japanese government to conduct these activities as a regulated nonprofit. Read a summary about BDTI here, and see a menu of its services for both corporations and investors here.