In the 2012 edition of The Global Power City Index, the inclusion of five new cities (Barcelona, Stockholm, Istanbul, Mexico City and Washington D.C.) results in a total of forty cities worldwide being ranked. Nine cities in Japan (Sapporo, Sendai, Saitama, Kawasaki, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, Kobe and Hiroshima) will also be evaluated under the same criteria as the other forty global cities. By doing this, we will clarify the position of these Japanese cities among the world’s major global cities. It is hoped that these results will provide a benchmark in better understanding the strengths and weaknesses that Tokyo and other global cities possess, while offering a valuable resource to the public sector in the development of urban policy planning and private sector corporate strategies.