Japan Post aims to beef up its international business to survive intensifying global competition ahead of its planned privatization beginning in 2007, according to Masaharu Ikuta, president of the government-owned entity.
"Our international business is small right now. But we are trying to establish the business as an important cornerstone in the future," Ikuta, the 69-year-old former chairman of shipping company Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., told The Japan Times in a recent interview.
Of Japan Post's 2 trillion yen in sales in postal services, 1.7 percent comes from the overseas parcel business. But Japan Post expects the global market to grow 1.9 times from the 4.9 trillion yen in 2002 to 9.2 trillion yen in 2012.