Japan Post Holdings Co. said it appointed Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. adviser Takashi Nishioka as its chairman Thursday, creating the post above President Yoshifumi Nishikawa to increase management transparency.
Japan Post submitted the plan in June to Tsutomu Sato, internal affairs and communications minister, as part of its business improvement measures, following the controversy over the attempted sale of its loss-making Kampo no Yado resort inn operation.
Nishioka, 73, will also serve as head of the Japan Post group's management advisory council that will be set up to improve its corporate governance. However, he holds no rights to represent the company.
Nishioka became adviser to Mitsubishi Heavy in June 2008 after serving as the firm's president and chairman.
On Nishikawa's watch, Japan Post decided late last year to sell off its Kampo no Yado nationwide resort inn network to leasing company Orix Corp.'s real estate unit for a fraction of its original cost as part of its efforts to restructure its operations.
However, the sale was canceled because then internal affairs minister Kunio Hatoyama argued that the sale price was unreasonably low and that it was a done deal between Japan Post and Orix prior to the bidding process.