JAPANESE POSTMEN HOLD KEY TO CHANGE
JAPANESE POSTMEN HOLD KEY TO CHANGE BLOC WITHIN RULING PARTY FIGHTING PRIME MINISTER CANDIDATE, REFORMER
From BEACON JOURNAL (AKRON), April 22nd, 2001
By Michael Zielenziger, Knight Ridder Newspapers Two or three times a day, the postmaster in this mountain hamlet of 400
residents in central Japan gets into his car to pick up a special delivery
from loyal, elderly women such as Toshiko Kamikubo. But Special Postmaster Masakazu Katsumata doesn’t touch parcels, or even
deliver mail. His mission today is to pick up a thick stack of bills totaling
$82,000 that Kamikubo wants deposited in a branch of Japan’s largest bank: the
post office. Japanese postmen such as Katsumata have lots of influence, and they have
formed a powerful force within Japan’s ruling party that is fighting to block
the rise of reformer Junichiro Koizumi, the leading contender to become the
next prime minister. Koizumi has called for privatizing the postal services, including the
postal savings system. He says private banks should take the massive pool of
savings to reduce the size of government spending, and that private delivery
services should compete for the mail service. Although many economists believe Japan must embrace fundamental economic
reform if it is to regain its economic stride, many doubt the governing party
can take up that cudgel because it is so beholden to special interests. Many
of Koizumi’s opponents advocate policies that would keep alive some of the
party’s most troubled special interests, including debt-plagued banks and
failing construction companies. Another special interest is the postal service, which collects more than a
third of the nation’s savings and funnels it into government-backed loan and
building projects that keep the troubled construction sector afloat. The power of the post office illustrates how difficult change can be in
Japan. The postmasters have created a nationwide support network that draws on
their extraordinary service and tradition to defend against change. They could
defeat Koizumi. “Everybody knows me,” said Katsumata, 50, who inherited the job as
“designated postmaster” of Gora from his father and grandfather and is a key
member of the local chapter of the governing Liberal Democratic Party. Katsumata collects the people’s prodigious savings for postal savings and
insurance accounts. Customers deposit money loyally, even though record-low
interest rates give them almost no earnings. “People want safety,” he said. “If we privatize postal services, some
isolated branches would be closed and rural people would be inconvenienced. If
it’s privatized, this would become a business. I think that’s risky.”
Photo Gora Postmaster Masakazu Katsumata (left) talks with mailman Yasuo Suzuki.
Junichiro Koizumi, the leading contender to become Japan’s next prime
minister, wants to privatize the postal service.
Copyright (c) 2001, Beacon Journal Publishing Co.BEACON JOURNAL (AKRON), 22nd April 2001
