Japan Post finally faces deep structural reforms
The postal service needs to survive with less help from banking and insurance
HOW CAN national postal services survive after privatisation, deprived of government support? That is a question facing many countries’ operators, including that of Japan, which the government has privatised and is slowly selling off until it owns just a third by 2022. The process has trundled along slowly since being forced through parliament in 2005 by Junichiro Koizumi, the then-prime minister.
All post offices must contend with drastic declines in letter-writing. In Japan the population is shrinking to boot. Nonetheless, Japan Post is obliged to keep its full network of 24,000 outlets, greater even than the number of elementary schools or convenience stores. Many post offices are in rural and hard-to-reach corners of the archipelago, serving as hubs for ageing local communities.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline "Cheque in the post"
Business December 15th 2018
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- A tobacco giant hashes out a deal with a cannabis company
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- Japan Post finally faces deep structural reforms
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