in august 2007, the ASBJ and IASB jointly announced that they had agreed to accelerate convergence between Japanese GAAP and IFRS (the Tokyo agreement) Accordingly, the two boards will seek to eliminate the major differences between the two sets of standards by 2008, and eliminate all the differences completely in or before June 2011 (except any major new IFRS now being developed that will become effective after 2011)
At a meeting held in London in September 2009 with the IASB, the ASBJ reported that good progress was being made toward IFRS and Japanese GAAP convergence. Further, the regulatory changes announced in December 2009 by the Japanese Financial Services Authority (FSA), established an operational framework for the voluntary application of IFRS in Japan, starting from the fiscal year on or after March 31, 2010.