Tag: Japan

Over 70 pct of Japanese people take a cautious stance toward the envisaged privatization of Japan Post, underscoring the need for the government to drum up public support for realizing the pivotal reform item for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

In the survey, conducted in March, 48.3 pct of respondents said that an organization that will take over Japan Post should be examined from a wider point of view based on the actual performance of the state-owned body, while 25.2 pct said that Japan Post should remain the way it is.

The government will privatise the three postal services in stages from April 2007 and discontinue its guarantees on new postal savings deposits and new insurance policies, according to an interim report drawn up on April 26 by the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy.

The postal savings, life insurance and mail delivery services will be fully privatised after a transition period of five to 10 years. The report stipulates that postal savings and insurance services should be scaled back, but does not go into specifics. Details regarding many other key issues, such as organisational structures and job security, have also been left out.