The meaning of the Japan Post privatization is linked to the real revival of Japan after lost decades. Japan is under even more pressure than it was 10 years ago to increase its international competit

As processes in Japan Post are painfully slow, could privatisation be a catalyst for increased productivity (through proof of concept) across Japan Inc.?

As processes in Japan Post are painfully slow, could privatisation be a catalyst for increased productivity (through proof of concept) across Japan Inc.?

Don't bet on it. What it means is that Japan Post is now part of Japan Inc. The main investors in Japan Post will be Japan Inc. itself. Rather than working for the government, Japan Post will now lobby the government for favors, investments, and such in exchange for giving bureaucrats amakudari jobs. In Japan privatization seldom leads to great increases in efficiency or competitiveness because the economy still remains effectively closed to outside competition. If Warren Buffet were to buy half the shares in the new Japan Post, do you think he would be given a seat on the Board of Directors? Hell would freeze and pigs would fly before such a thing were to happen.

Aside from its insurance and banking arms, Japan Post itself is a money-losing operation--just as postal operations are swimming in red ink in much of the rest of the developed world. If they're to answer to shareholders, they'll have to make some serious, painful decisions about breadth of services and operational efficiencies.

There is zero relationship between whether Japan Post has been, or is, under private or public ownership and the actual casual factors of the so-called "lost decades". Neither is there any relationship between the "lost decades" and the supposed "international competitiveness" of Japan. The lost decades are due solely to the failure (whether through incompetence or corruption) of Japan to operate its monetary policy and fiscal policy in a sane and coherent way. And it is the same now in every advanced country, post-1970s voodoo bubble economics just burst here first.

The guy is just making stuff up, which pretty much describes what economists do for a living anyways. So not a surprise.

Hopes of "revival" , reeking of desperation. And if the Nikkei crashes and share price cuts in half, what happens to accounts 10 years out?

For once, I'm actually sad about this privatisation. Surely the first things to go will be late night and weekend deliveries..

Shouldn't this be in the fiction section!!!

The meaning of the Japan Post privatization is linked to the real revival of Japan after lost decades.

Nonsense. This is just a watered-down version of the real reform measures Koizumi pushed through about a decade ago, but then the special interests came into play. Taking an aging, inefficient, hopelessly bloated, government supported entity public is hardly "revival".

Japan is under even more pressure than it was 10 years ago to increase its international competitive edge in every industry.

Now that he has correct.

The lost decades are due solely to the failure (whether through incompetence or corruption) of Japan to operate its monetary policy and fiscal policy in a sane and coherent way.

I think for once we agree. Japan has wasted its financial resources on propping up inefficient and inept banks and companies, at the expense of focusing on re-structuring an economy to face the challenges posed by SK, China, Vietnam, etc. And, Japan Post is a perfect example of that. Does Japan really need a post office in EVERY town?

Sorry, wrong. There is absolutely no need whatsoever for Japan to" increase its international competitive edge in every industry". No "edge" is required -- simply perform adequately.