Japan Post, a mammoth public corporation that provides mail, savings and insurance services, is under fire from private life insurers here as well as from U.S. and European insurance industries and government authorities. Their object of criticism is the new life insurance policy that JP plans to sell beginning next January. The plan, approved recently by the government, is similar to private insurers' mainstay product known as the "fixed-term, whole-life insurance policy."
Critics say the new product would make inroads into the business of private life insurance. They also insist that its planned sale should be postponed until a level playing field -- equal conditions for competition -- is created.
As things stand, the government's approval of the plan is open to question. One reason is that conditions for competition between JP and private insurers are anything but equal. Free competition is the golden rule in a free-market economy, and the basic premise is that the game should be played fairly.