Hiromu Nonaka, a heavyweight in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and a vocal opponent of postal deregulation, said Friday that he will not obstruct the passage of the bills through the Lower House in the current Diet session.
Nonaka is a leader of the state-run postal service's political lobby, and his dramatic about-face is seen as a sign that the LDP is softening its stance on postal service deregulation.
During Friday's meeting of the LDP's Executive Council, Nonaka, who had been adamantly opposed to the bills, announced that he plans to convey his intention to back the bills to a gathering of post office chiefs to be held in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture on Saturday.