Tag: Japan

Convenience store chains Daily Yamazaki Co. and am/pm Japan Co. will start accepting parcels for delivery by Japan Post at all their outlets in Tokyo on June 1, Japan Post said Monday.

With the two convenience store operators due to expand their partnerships to cover stores across Japan possibly from September, the public enterprise will be able to build a network of 13,000 always-open convenience stores in Japan for its “Yu-Pack” service.

The total breaks down to 8,100 outlets of Lawson Inc. , which launched the agent service in November last year, 1,700 stores of Ministop Co. , which will begin handling Yu-Pack parcels from June this year, 1,900 outlets of Daily Yamazaki and 1,300 of am/pm Japan.

The government of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Wednesday night submitted a set of postal privatisation bills to parliament, after making significant concessions in the face of persistent resistance within his own party.

The government adopted the six bills at an extraordinary cabinet meeting earlier in the day after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s decision-making General Council approved submission of the bills.

Privatisation of the state-run postal business is Koizumi’s pet project in his structural reform drive.

Koizumi told reporters that the government will make utmost efforts to have the bills enacted during the ongoing parliamentary session ending June 19. He added that he has no plan to extend the session.

The government got the nod Monday from executives of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on its postal privatization policy, having accepted most of the party’s requests designed to water down the plan to fully privatize postal savings and life insurance services.

The accord is aimed at concluding the months of political bickering between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s government and the LDP, and clearing the way for the government to adopt a set of postal privatization bills on Tuesday.

But LDP lawmakers opposing the policy remained discontent and may not support the bills when they are put to a vote in the Diet.

Koizumi wants to submit the bills to parliament by Thursday to see them passed during the ongoing Diet session through June 19.

Speaking briefly to reporters at his office, Koizumi said the government has made no concessions in terms of changing the bill’s outline.