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is a public corporation in Japan offering postal and package delivery services, banking services, and life insurance. It has over 400,000 employees and runs 24,700 post offices throughout Japan and is the nation's largest employer. One third of all Japanese government employees work for Japan Post. As of 2005, the president of the company is Masaharu Ikuta, formerly chairman of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd.
Japan Post runs the world's largest postal savings system and is often said to be the largest holder of personal savings in the world: with ¥224 trillion ($2.1 trillion) of household assets in its ''yū-cho'' savings accounts and ¥126 trillion ($1.2 trillion) of household assets in its ''kampo'' life insurance services, its holdings account for 25 percent of household assets in Japan. Japan Post also holds about ¥140 trillion (one fifth) of the Japanese national debt in the form of government bonds. The privatization of Japan Post is currently one of the most contentious points of political debate in Japan.

Contents

Postal privatization

Types of post office

Postal symbol

See also

External links

References

Postal privatization

The company was born on April 2, 2003, as a public corporation, replacing the old . Japan Post's formation was part of then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's long-term reform plan which would culminate in the full privatization of the postal service. The privatization plan encounters both support and opposition across the Japanese political spectrum, including the two largest parties, LDP and DPJ. Opponents claim that the move would result in the closure of post offices and in job losses at the nation's largest employer. However, proponents contend that privatization would allow for a more efficient and flexible use of the company's funds that would help revitalize Japan's economy, which is still recovering from a series of four recessions since 1991. Proponents also claim that Japan Post has become an enormous source of corruption and patronage. Koizumi calls the privatization a major part in his efforts to curb government spending and the growth of the national debt. Most opposition parties support postal privatisation, but not Koizumi's bill. Many consider the bill deeply flawed with too long a time for full implementation and too many loopholes that might create a privatisation in name only.
In September 2003, Koizumi's cabinet proposed splitting Japan Post into four separate companies: a bank, an insurance company, a postal service company, and a fourth company to handle the post offices as retail storefronts of the other three. Each of these companies would be privatized in April 2007. In 2005, a bill to complete this reform passed the lower house of the Japanese legislature by a handful of votes, with many people from Koizumi's LDP defecting. The bill was subsequently defeated in the upper house (which cannot be dissolved) because of scores of defection from the ruling coalition. Koizumi immediately dissolved the lower house and scheduled nationwide elections to be held on September 11, 2005. He declared that election to be a referendum on postal privatisation. Koizumi subsequently won this election, gaining the necessary supermajority and a mandate for reform, and in October 2005, the bill was passed to privatize Japan Post in 2007.^[1]

Types of post office

There are two types of ) in Japan, the normal kind, and ones involved in distribution and collection of post. These distribution centres are known as 集配局 ''shūhaikyoku''. Most post offices are not distribution centres; only the larger offices are. Distribution centres also offer a wider range of services for businesses than normal post offices.

Postal symbol

The symbol of a post office in Japan is a capital letter T with a bar over it, 〒. This is used on the signs of post offices, on post boxes, and it is also sometimes used before the postcode on letters. The symbol can be obtained by typing ''yuubin'' in a Japanese word processor and then converting it. There are several variant forms of this symbol in Unicode, including a form in a circle, 〶, which is the official Geographical Survey Institute of Japan map symbol for a post office.
〠 is a character of Japan Post. Its name is Number-kun. Japan Post released a new character, "Poston," in 1998, so Number-kun is rarely used nowadays.

See also

★ Japanese addressing system

★ Package delivery

External links

★ Koizumi loses postal reform vote in Upper House, calls for new elections

★ Koizumi wins postal reform vote in Lower House

★ Company Website

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★ Post

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★ Bank

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★ Insurance

★ Yahoo! - Japan Post Company Profile

References

★ Japan Post Annual Report 2006
1.
Japan Approves Postal Privatization Anthony Faiola