Saito to head Japan Post, board members to be replaced

Former Vice Finance Minister Jiro Saito was named president of Japan Post on Wednesday as the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) set about undoing some of the changes made to Japan's postal services by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's government after a 2005 election.

A large number of Japan Post's current board members are also expected to be replaced in the coming weeks as people opposed to postal privatization take charge of the organization.

The changes come in the aftermath of Yoshifumi Nishikawa's resignation as president. Nishikawa was appointed president by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to oversee the privatization of the postal service.

Saito was appointed president by the government -- currently the sole shareholder in the organization. He will be expected to improve postal services across a nation that has seen a number of branches in rural areas close and efficiency decrease in recent years. The move is in line with the DPJ campaign pledge to put people first while in power.

The government has, however, been criticized for installing Saito into management, which seems to contradict its promise to change the way the country is run by wresting power from former bureaucrats and into the hands of those most likely to do a good job.

In an August news conference, however, Deputy Chair of the Democratic Party of Japan Policy Research Committee Tetsuro Fukuyama said, "We do not wish to alienate the bureaucracy, we wish to work with those that are the best suited to their jobs."

Saito, 73, came into the position with experience as the top government bureaucrat in the finance ministry between 1993 to 1995.Though at that time, the government came under fierce criticism for wasteful spending.

Saito will represent a DPJ that is looking to reverse a policy put in place after the 2005 "postal vote," which was won by the LDP under Prime Minister Koizumi in a landslide. That vote was considered a referendum on Koizumi's pledge to implement reforms, but in the four years since the election was held, public opinion has turned against the Koizumi pro market policies as the global recession has led to unemployment and a struggling economy in Japan.

Under the LDP plan, the postal service was to be privatized over ten years from 2007, when Nishikawa took the job as the head of Japan Post. From as early as 2010, shares were supposed to be sold in the savings and insurance sections of the organization before full privatization by 2017.

Since coming to power in September, however, the DPJ has reviewed the postal service and concluded that operations within the organization have worsened under the Koizumi reforms. The DPJ now aims to ensure the organization improves the services that it provides to the public.

Under these circumstances, Nishikawa resigned from his post saying it would be inappropriate for him to continue given the dramatic shift in policy since the DPJ was elected to office.

Source: Xinhua