Former Yamato Transport Co. Chairman Masao Ogura, who in the 1970s started the first private door-to-door parcel delivery service firm in Japan, died Wednesday of kidney failure in Los Angeles, his family said. He was 80.
Throughout his career, Ogura was also known as a man who fought against government regulations that blocked free competition in business.
He joined the predecessor of Yamato Transport, which had been founded by his father, in 1948 after graduating from the University of Tokyo the previous year.