Tag: Japan

Japan Post said Wednesday it will start a service to allow recipients of mail and parcels to pick up these items at convenience stores operated by am/pm Japan Co.

The service will become available from Aug. 20, allowing registered users to collect around the clock mail and parcels delivered during their absence at some 30 am/pm Japan outlets in Tokyo.

Users can pick up their items at special boxes to be installed at the convenience stores for a fee of 100 yen per use.

Economics czar Heizo Takenaka made a forceful case over the weekend for privatisation of Japan Post, saying the key issue was getting rid of the risk factor.

“Unless we clear this issue (of risk), we’d be making the biggest mistake since the end of World War II in terms of system planning,” he said.

Takenaka, the economic and fiscal policy minister, reiterated that the three services managed by Japan Post must be separated and managed independently to avoid financial disaster.

The Japanese government plans to allow post offices to sell investment trusts and other financial products starting as early as next fiscal year from April 2005, before Japan Post’s privatisation process begins in 2007. The move is intended to strengthen Japan Post’s earnings base and help ease its transition into a private company.