The United States told Japan on Friday there are problems with the government's treatment of the state-run "kampo" life insurance service, Japanese officials said.
At working-level bilateral insurance talks in Washington, however, Japan replied that business conditions are balanced as a whole between the kampo service and private insurers, the officials told reporters.
Last week, the American Council of Life Insurers sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick requesting that his office urge Japan to take action to correct what the council says is Japan's "favored treatment" of kampo.
The U.S. insurance group said the kampo service enjoys preferential measures never granted to private companies. Kampo, for instance, gets tax exemptions and is not obliged to make payments to the Life Insurance Policyholders Protection Corp. of Japan, a safety net fund for policyholders.