Tag: Japan

In a battle shaping as his last stand on reform, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is facing a bitter battle with his ruling Liberal Democratic Party over proposals to deregulate Japan’s heavily subsidised postal system.
Mr Koizumi wants the legislation, which would open up Japan’s publicly run mail delivery system to private operators, passed in the current six-week Japanese parliamentary session, which opened on Tuesday.
Postal reform is an issue long championed by Mr Koizumi, who recently described it as the centrepiece of his reform package.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s Cabinet on Tuesday endorsed the remaining two bills of a set of four on postal services deregulation and plans to submit both to the Diet.
On April 26, the Cabinet endorsed and submitted the other two bills, featuring fundamental reform measures for postal service-related operations, effectively steamrolling opposition from heavyweights in Koizumi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

One year has passed since the launch of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi Cabinet in April last year. Since that time he has been trumpeting his reformist goals, saying, “There will be no growth without reforms.”
However, Koizumi’s reform campaign appears to have had the rug pulled out from underneath it, and under the circumstances, his reform efforts could be labeled a failure.

Cabinet approval Friday of part of a package of bills on postal service deregulation has heightened concerns among post offices in underpopulated areas about the possibility that they might suffer in fierce competition with the private sector.
The package of four bills is designed to allow private firms to offer mail services and establish a new public corporation to take over the existing postal services: mail, postal savings and life insurance.