Toyota Motor Corp. Chairman Hiroshi Okuda clarified on Monday that he intends to complete his second two-year term as head of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), which expires in May 2006.
"I'd like to make an all-out effort to tackle remaining issues, such as postal reform and constitutional amendment," he told a news conference.
Okuda has in the past been vague on whether he would be able to complete his term as head of the major business lobby, partly due to his health and dissatisfaction with the pace of Japan's structural reform drive, led by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
But he apparently clarified his stand because he has been appointed to a government panel on Imperial succession issues and will continue as a private-sector member of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy chaired by Koizumi.
At the news conference, Okuda declined to comment on the successors to the three JBF vice chairmen who are expected to retire in May. The group has 15 vice chairmen.
Federation sources said the group plans to appoint Toyota Motor President Fujio Cho and Nippon Steel Corp. President Akio Mimura as successors.