Japan sees 1st private-sector mail
Freight company Tokai Messenger Bb launched a mail delivery service Sunday, making it the first private-sector firm to take part in services that have been controlled by the state for 130 years, as part of Japan’s efforts to privatize postal services.
The company, based in Nagoya, has acquired a license to deliver mail within three hours in the central areas of the capital of Aichi Prefecture in central Japan.
“Most of our customers have been advertisement agencies and design companies, but we can increase the handling of such public documents as tax statements from now,” Tokai Messenger President Kenichiro Imai said.
Seven other firms have been licensed by the Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications Ministry for limited mail delivery services since they were opened to the private sector in April. They are slated to begin services in August.
A modern mail delivery system was established in Japan in 1871, and the government created a state monopoly two years later after it banned the “hikyaku” business that flourished in the Edo Era with runners delivering messages and parcels on foot along routes that linked Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo.
The April revision of the Mail Delivery Law also paved the way for businesses to start broad mail delivery. But no firms have applied for this category due to the stringent requirements, including the stipulation that they deliver mail everyday to anywhere in Japan and set up their own mailboxes.
The revision was part of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s drive to liberalize postal services. It also led to the April 1 creation of Japan Post to take over the three services of mail, postal savings and “kampo” life insurance from the governmental Postal Services Agency.
