Tag: Japan

The number of parcels Japan Post delivered between last April and early this month has reached a record-high 184.97 million, breaking the previous record set in fiscal 1970, the public postal service agency said Wednesday. The previous record was set in the 12-month period beginning April 1, 1970, according to Japan Post. The new all-time high was logged partly because Japan Post teamed up last November with major convenience store chain operator Lawson Inc. to provide the “Yu-Pack” door-to-door parcel delivery service. The growth in Japan Post’s parcel service could draw flak from its archrival parcel service provider, Yamato Transport Co., industry analysts say.

Senior aides to Junichiro Koizumi, Japan’s prime minister, have hinted that the timetable for postal privatisation could be allowed to slip, opening up the possibility of flexibility in talks with the ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP), many of whose members vehemently oppose postal reform. Mr Koizumi has insisted until now that the post office should be split into four separate entities from 2007 to ensure that there are no cross-subsidies between the mail, insurance, savings and counter divisions. The prime minister has made privatisation of the post office, the biggest financial institution in the world, the centrepiece of his final two years in office, and has threatened to call a snap election if the LDP refuses to back his drive. A foretaste of the rocky time that Mr Koizumi may face during the next 150 days of the regular parliamentary session came yesterday when opposition members walked out of the Diet chamber in protest at his answers on postal privatisation. The chamber was thrown into confusion when members of the Democratic Party of Japan suddenly stood up and left, accusing Mr Koizumi of being vague in his replies to questions about postal reform.