A special committee of the House of Councilors passed a package of postal privatization bills Friday, pushing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi toward a final showdown with reform foes in his Liberal Democratic Party in Monday's plenary session.
The six bills were passed with full support from the LDP and its junior coalition partner, New Komeito. No LDP privatization opponents sat on the 35-member panel.
The panel also adopted a 15-point supplementary resolution to be attached to the bills, proposed by the ruling coalition, to address concerns that privatizing postal services would lead to post-office closures and layoffs.