Kamei taps Saito to lead Japan Post

Postal reform minister Shizuka Kamei said Wednesday he wants former Vice Finance Minister Jiro Saito to replace Yoshifumi Nishikawa as Japan Post Holdings Co. president.

Jiro Saito

Saito's appointment, however, is likely to draw fire for going against the Democratic Party of Japan's efforts to strip the bloated bureaucracy of its policymaking influence. Kamei, leader of coalition partner Kokumin Shinto (People's New Party), is trying as hard as he can to roll back the postal privatization reforms launched by former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

"We share almost the same idea on drastically reviewing Japan Post," Kamei said of Saito, 73.

"I think it will be a tough job. I will do my best," said Saito, who is currently president and chief executive officer of Tokyo Financial Exchange Inc., a market for securities and derivatives trading.

Saito declined to make any comments on Japan Post, saying it is not appropriate to make such comments before formally assuming the Japan Post presidency. His appointment is subject to approval by the Japan Post nomination committee, which is headed by Toyota Motor Corp. Senior Adviser Hiroshi Okuda.

He joined the Finance Ministry in 1959 after graduating from the University of Tokyo and served in several of its key posts, including director general of the Budget Bureau.

In May 2000, he took the helm of the Financial Futures Exchange, which was converted into a stock corporation in April 2004. It took its current form in September 2007 to handle trading of more comprehensive financial products.

Saito is said to be close to DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa.

The change will place management of Japan Post into the hands of a former bureaucrat at a time when the DPJ is striving to give politicians more policymaking control.

Nishikawa announced Tuesday he would step down because of the policy shift on postal privatization. He will submit his letter of resignation on Oct. 28, when the Japan Post board convenes for a meeting, he said.

He told reporters at the holding company's headquarters that there is a big difference between what he has done and plans to do with Japan Post and the plans being put forward by the new administration.

The ruling coalition, led by the DPJ, has been rethinking the postal privatization plan launched in 2007 by then Prime Minister Koizumi since taking power on Sept. 16.

Nishikawa was considered a prime player in Japan Post's aborted bid to sell its nationwide inn holdings at fire-sale prices to Orix Corp. in what was considered a dubious deal.

The government is expected to submit legislation to revise the postal privatization process during the extraordinary Diet session to be convened next Monday.

Although Nishikawa had planned to list two of Japan Post's financial units, the new administration, and particularly Kamei, opposed this.