More than letters: Japan's postal service aims to stay relevant by becoming 'a total life-support' company

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  Japan Post will put up one of the world’s biggest initial public offerings of the year. Photo: AFP
  At a time when physical postal services are becoming an anachronism as companies and the public increasingly turn to electronic communications, Japan Post is looking for ways to remain relevant.

  And justifying the company's physical presence in post offices across the country is more important than ever now that the two money-spinning components of the post office are to make their debuts on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

  The IPO, scheduled for November 4, will be the biggest in Japan in more than 30 years and is the first of three planned releases by the government. In total, the sell-off is designed to generate more than US$30 billion that will help fund reconstruction in parts of Japan hardest-hit by the March 2011 earthquake.

  Yet despite the vast numbers that are being discussed, some have serious concerns about the privatisation of an organisation that employs 237,000 people, earned revenue of US$152 billion in 2014 and has total assets of US$2.84 trillion, putting it in 13th place in the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's largest companies.

  "The government says it will spend the money on reconstruction work in Tohoku, but that's just an excuse," said Kobo Inamura, whose opposition to privatisation plans caused him to resign as director of international postal services in the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in 2005.

  "That money should come from tax revenues," he insisted.

  "Japan Post has suddenly become a charity. Japan Post controls the world's largest assets, in the form of postal savings of the Japanese people, but privatisation means how those funds are used can be influenced by villains and vultures, and that worries me."

  And Inamura, now a visiting professor at Tokyo's Chuo University specialising in the economics of public policy, claims that as income from the postal savings and life insurance arms of the company are presently used to subsidise the postal service in the remotest parts of the country, "privatisation will be the death of the postal network in small communities".

  Already, the lack of investment in the maintenance of offices, on delivery vehicles and computer systems was evident, Inamura said. And he feared that would only accelerate after privatisation.

  Hence, perhaps, Japan Post's "Watch Over" system.

  Initially introduced in 2013 as a programme under which employees of Japan Post stop by the homes of elderly people to make sure they are in good health and then pass that information on to their relatives, the fee-based system is being expanded this year.

  Trials have begun in Yamanashi and Nagasaki prefectures with the introduction of iPads that directly connect the elderly with their families, their community, their health care providers and service providers.

  The aim, Japan Post said, was to become a "total life-support company".

  "The post office can be an important provider of life support for the people of Japan and a key part of our social infrastructure," said Hideo Murata, senior manager for public relations for Japan Post Holdings.

  Japan Post began working with IBM and Apple in 2014 to develop the service, with the companies setting a target of up to 5 million subscribers by 2020.

  The apps include FaceTime, Messages, Mail, Photos and iCloud Photo Sharing, along with access to the App Sore, iTunes Store and iBooks Store. The iOS 8 has award-winning features designed with the elderly in mind, such as settings for low vision and hearing-impaired users.

  Other features for the elderly devised by IBM include reminders and alerts about medications, exercise and diet.

Japan Post will put up one of the world’s biggest initial public offerings of the year. Photo: AFP

At a time when physical postal services are becoming an anachronism as companies and the public increasingly turn to electronic communications, Japan Post is looking for ways to remain relevant.

And justifying the company's physical presence in post offices across the country is more important than ever now that the two money-spinning components of the post office are to make their debuts on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The IPO, scheduled for November 4, will be the biggest in Japan in more than 30 years and is the first of three planned releases by the government. In total, the sell-off is designed to generate more than US$30 billion that will help fund reconstruction in parts of Japan hardest-hit by the March 2011 earthquake.

Yet despite the vast numbers that are being discussed, some have serious concerns about the privatisation of an organisation that employs 237,000 people, earned revenue of US$152 billion in 2014 and has total assets of US$2.84 trillion, putting it in 13th place in the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's largest companies.

"The government says it will spend the money on reconstruction work in Tohoku, but that's just an excuse," said Kobo Inamura, whose opposition to privatisation plans caused him to resign as director of international postal services in the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications in 2005.

"That money should come from tax revenues," he insisted.

"Japan Post has suddenly become a charity. Japan Post controls the world's largest assets, in the form of postal savings of the Japanese people, but privatisation means how those funds are used can be influenced by villains and vultures, and that worries me."

And Inamura, now a visiting professor at Tokyo's Chuo University specialising in the economics of public policy, claims that as income from the postal savings and life insurance arms of the company are presently used to subsidise the postal service in the remotest parts of the country, "privatisation will be the death of the postal network in small communities".

Already, the lack of investment in the maintenance of offices, on delivery vehicles and computer systems was evident, Inamura said. And he feared that would only accelerate after privatisation.

Hence, perhaps, Japan Post's "Watch Over" system.

Initially introduced in 2013 as a programme under which employees of Japan Post stop by the homes of elderly people to make sure they are in good health and then pass that information on to their relatives, the fee-based system is being expanded this year.

Trials have begun in Yamanashi and Nagasaki prefectures with the introduction of iPads that directly connect the elderly with their families, their community, their health care providers and service providers.

The aim, Japan Post said, was to become a "total life-support company".

"The post office can be an important provider of life support for the people of Japan and a key part of our social infrastructure," said Hideo Murata, senior manager for public relations for Japan Post Holdings.

Japan Post began working with IBM and Apple in 2014 to develop the service, with the companies setting a target of up to 5 million subscribers by 2020.

The apps include FaceTime, Messages, Mail, Photos and iCloud Photo Sharing, along with access to the App Sore, iTunes Store and iBooks Store. The iOS 8 has award-winning features designed with the elderly in mind, such as settings for low vision and hearing-impaired users.

Other features for the elderly devised by IBM include reminders and alerts about medications, exercise and diet.

Source :http://m.scmp.com/