Kyodo News Japan Highway Public Corp. is the most symbolic privatization target of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's "structural reforms without sanctuaries" campaign.
The corporation has strong political influence and huge operating expenses -- 5.363 trillion yen in fiscal 2001.
That's about the same as the revenues generated from gasoline and automobile taxes, which are earmarked exclusively for road-building projects -- long considered a source of pork-barrel politics -- and go to the corporation.