Liberal Democratic Party opponents of postal reform redoubled their efforts to thwart the plans of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday, demanding that Japan Post remain a public corporation.
On Friday morning, Tamisuke Watanuki, head of a group of antiprivatization lawmakers in the LDP, submitted to House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono a "bill to reform Japan Post."
But the bill in question involves no plans to privatize or reorganize the massive entity, which currently handles mail delivery, postal savings and postal life insurance operations, with combined assets worth some 340 trillion yen.
"There's a strong possibility that the government-sponsored postal privatization bills will cause enormous inconvenience and confusion to users by splitting the postal businesses into four private companies and abolishing the postal savings and postal life insurance services," the bill states.
The bill was rejected because it failed to secure the party's endorsement. LDP Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe had also urged the secretary general of the chamber not to accept it.
Also Friday, former posts minister Seiko Noda told Koizumi before a special Lower House committee on postal privatization that Japan Post should remain a public entity. He said the public and private sectors should complement each other to serve everyone across the country — particularly in light of the depopulation of many rural areas.
But the prime minister reiterated his desire to see the postal privatization bills passed during the current Diet session, stressing the importance of abolishing certain restrictions and thereby allowing Japan Post to provide a wider range of services.
