Tag: Japan

The government has entered the final stage of negotiations on working out a system that will in principle not require universal service for parcel delivery after the privatization of the postal services in fiscal 2007, government officials said Saturday. The universal service will cover only ordinary mail items, including postcards, the officials said. In other countries, universal service is usually required for parcel delivery, but the government decided against this because the door-to-door parcel service in the private sector is highly developed. The current system requires Japan Post to submit to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry a report on its parcel delivery fees before it raises them.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reiterated Tuesday the need for planned controversial post office reforms despite differences within his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Koizumi’s pet project to privatize the national postal service has divided the ruling party because his plan risks offending the one million Japan Post workers who traditionally have voted for the LDP.
“With no reform, we will see no growth. Reform is necessary in any era,” Koizumi told an annual convention of the party, which has ruled Japan almost continuously since it was founded about 50 years ago. “The LDP must continue to push for reform by going back to our founding principle that we are a national party that seeks prosperity of the entire Japanese public,” he said.