Japan Post has announced a "master plan to reform postal offices" as the process of privatizing the mammoth state-run entity of 260,000 employees is set to begin in October 2007. The focus of the plan is the reform of the specially designated tokutei post offices, which account for three-fourths of the nation's 24,700 post offices and have been criticized for clinging to vested interests.
On Oct. 1, 2007, the postal service will be split into four business units. Japan Post Corp., a new joint-stock company that has just been set up by Japan Post, will serve as their holding company. Savings and insurance operations are to be fully privatized by 2017, while the holding company will wholly own the mail delivery and post office service units.
The history of tokutei post offices goes back to 1871 when the Meiji government introduced a modern postal delivery service. In an effort to spread the postal system quickly throughout the nation, the government encouraged wealthy people in local communities to offer land and buildings for "third-class" post offices. In return, the landowners received rent payments from the government and were appointed as postmasters, classified as public servants. A 1941 law turned the operations into tokutei post offices, a majority of which are manned by five or less workers.