Japan Post 日本郵政公社
Type	Government-owned
Founded	2003
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Maejima Hisoka
Industry	Courier
Revenue	¥23,061 billion JPY (2006)
Net income	¥1,993 billion JPY (2006)
Employees	256,572 (full-time, 2006)
Divisions	Postal Service, Postal Savings, Postal Life Insurance
Website	www.japanpost.jp

Japan Post (日本郵政公社, Nippon Yūsei Kōsha^?) 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. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1030x224, 14 KB) this is a corporation logo. ... A government corporation or government-owned corporation is a legal entity created by a government to exercise some of the powers of the government. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Maejima Hisoka ); (24 January 1835 – 27 April 1919) was a Japanese statesman, politician, and businessman in Meiji period Japan, who founded the Japanese postal service. ... A courier is a person or company employed to deliver messages, packages and mail. ... Revenue is a U.S. business term for the amount of money that a company earns from its activities in a given period, mostly from sales of products and/or services to customers. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... ISO 4217 Code JPY User(s) Japan Inflation -0. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... Net income is equal to the income that a firm has after subtracting costs and expenses from the total revenue. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... ISO 4217 Code JPY User(s) Japan Inflation -0. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... For the album by the Kaiser Chiefs see Employment (album) Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... A full time job usually has benefits (such as health insurance) and are often considered careers. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... A website (alternatively, Web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on a Web server, usually accessible via the Internet or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML, that is almost always accessible via HTTP, a... Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. ... Small-town post office and town hall in Lockhart, Alabama A post office is a facility (in most countries, a government one) where the public can purchase postage stamps for mailing correspondence or merchandise, and also drop off or pick up packages or other special-delivery items. ... Masaharu Ikuta (生田正治, January 19, 1935-) is Japanese businessman from Kobe, Hyogo. ... Mol Enterprise container ship, June 2004. ...

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. Postal savings systems were offered by many nations post offices to provide depositors who did not have access to banks a safe, convenient method to save money and to promote saving among the poor. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

History

It has been suggested that postal privatisation bills be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)

The company was born on April 2, 2003, as a public corporation, replacing the old Postal Services Agency (郵政事業庁, Yūsei Jigyōchō^?). Japan Post's formation was part of the immediate past Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's long-term reform plan which would culminate in the full privatization of the postal service. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has proposed splitting the powerful and rich Japan Post into four separate companies: a bank, an insurance company, a post office, and a company to handle the retail storefronts on these three. ... April 2 is the 92nd day of the year (93rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Junichiro Koizumi , born January 8, 1942) is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006. ...

The privatization of the company, particularly its postal services division is a decade-long political matter in Japan. The Cabinet announced on September 2003 that they have planned to divide the company into four, which are postal services, postal savings services, postal life insurance services and window networks (post offices), and privatize each in April 2007. Quite a number of people, including former Prime Minister Koizumi, back the privatization plan while there are strong political oppositions to it within both of largest parties, LDP and DPJ. Opponents claim that this 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. The Prime Minister of Japan (内閣総理大臣 Naikaku sōri daijin) is the usual English-language term used for the head of government of Japan, although the literal translation of the Japanese name for the office is Prime Minister of the Cabinet. ... Junichiro Koizumi , born January 8, 1942) is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006. ... The Liberal Democratic Party ), frequently abbreviated to LDP or Jimintō ), is a conservative political party and the largest party in Japan, which has been ruling almost uninterruptedly since Japan regained independence after World War II. It is not to be confused with the now-defunct Liberal Party ), which merged with... The Democratic Party of Japan ) is a liberal party in Japan. ...

When a bill to privatize Japan Post was voted down in the upper house (which cannot be dissolved), Prime Minister Koizumi dissolved the more powerful lower house of the Japanese Diet. As a result, Japan held nationwide elections to the House of Representatives on September 11, 2005. 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] This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The House of Councillors ) is the upper house of the Diet of Japan. ... The Prime Minister of Japan (内閣総理大臣 Naikaku sōri daijin) is the usual English-language term used for the head of government of Japan, although the literal translation of the Japanese name for the office is Prime Minister of the Cabinet. ... Junichiro Koizumi , born January 8, 1942) is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 2001 to 2006. ... A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. ... The National Diet of Japan (国会; Kokkai) is Japans legislature. ... For a breakdown of the results by block district with maps, see Results of Japan general election, 2005 Japan held a nationwide election to the House of Representatives, the more powerful lower house of the National Diet, on 11 September 2005, about two years before the end of the term... The House of Representatives ) is the lower house of the Diet of Japan. ... September 11 is the 254th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (255th in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A supermajority or a qualified majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level or type of support which exceeds a simple majority in order to have effect. ...

Mailbox markings

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Types of post office

There are two types of post office (郵便局, yūbinkyoku^?)) 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 the mark for the Japanese 郵便マーク (yuubin mark) or postal zip code mark. ... This page lists Japanese typographic symbols which are not included in kana or kanji. ... Unicode is an industry standard designed to allow text and symbols from all of the writing systems of the world to be consistently represented and manipulated by computers. ... The Geographical Survey Institute of Japan ), or GSI, is the national institution responsible for surveying and mapping the national land of Japan. ... This is a list of symbols appearing on Japanese maps. ...

〠 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. This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

See also

• Japanese addressing system
• Package delivery

The Japanese addressing system is used to identify a specific location in Japan. ... List of package delivery companies United Parcel Service (UPS) United States Postal Service (USPS) FedEx (Federal Express) Japan Post (former Japan Postal Service) Purolator,Canadian courier TNT Express, part of TPG DHL (Now includes Airborne Express) Estafeta Mexico Jetpak (in Scandinavia) Aramex - an international shipping company based in Amman, Jordan. ...

External links

Wikinews has news related to:

Koizumi wins electoral mandate for postal reform

• Koizumi loses postal reform vote in Upper House, calls for new elections
• Koizumi wins postal reform vote in Lower House
• Company Website
  • Post
  • Bank
  • Insurance (Japanese)
• Yahoo! - Japan Post Company Profile

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References

• Japan Post Annual Report 2006

1. ^ Faiola, Anthony. "Japan Approves Postal Privatization", Washington Post, The Washington Post Company, 2005-10-15, p. A10. Retrieved on 2007-02-09.