Nihon'yūseikōsha

Facts about Japan Post; something we can learn from..


  In April 2002, the Japanese post office became Japan Post and was removed from the control of the Ministry of Public Management Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications. This was supposed to make it leaner and was the first step towards privatization. 

 Japan Post is Japan’s largest employer with 400,000 employees, 25,000 outlets nationwide, almost the number of all of Japan’s bank branches combined, and has assets of $3.1 trillion. It is the nation’s main lender and insurer, with $1 trillion in life insurance policies, and effectively the largest savings bank in the world. It was a source of funds for wasteful public works projects and funds used by LDP politicians to support their patronage systems. 

 In September 2004, a plan was adopted to split Japan Post into four forms for 1) mail delivery, 2) savings, 3) life insurance and 4) post office network management under a holding company in September 2007. 

 The Japan Post group was launched in October 2007. Under the state-funded Japan Post Holding Company former Japan Post was split into four companies—Japan Post Service Co., Japan Post Network Co., Japan Post Bank Co., and Japan Post Insurance Co. 

 It its first six months of operation Japan Post made a profit of ¥277 billion, exceeding forecasts by 29 percent. In fiscal 2008-2009 it posted a net profit of $4.23 billion in fiscal 2008-2009, with Japan Post insurance contributing nearly 80 percent of the profit. NTT was the only Japanese company with a higher profit. 

 The are now worries that Japan Post will be such a colossus that it will be able to drive out competition, both foreign and domestic.

  Norio Kitamura, an executive who spent his entire career at Toyota, was named CEO of Japan Post Service Co. He introduced Toyota management and production methods.