Japan Post

Japan Post
日本郵政公社

Former type	Government-owned
Industry	Courier
Fate	Privatized into Japan Post Holdings
Founded	April 1, 2003, by reorganization of the Postal Services Agency
Defunct	September 30, 2007
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Maejima Hisoka
Revenue	¥23,061 billion JPY (2006)
Net income	¥1,993 billion JPY (2006)
Number of employees	256,572 (full-time, 2006)
Divisions	Postal Service, Postal Savings, Postal Life Insurance
Website	www.japanpost.jp/en/

Japan Post (日本郵政公社, Nippon Yūsei Kōsha^?) was a government-owned corporation in Japan that existed from 2003 to 2007, offering postal and package delivery services, banking services, and life insurance. It was the nation's largest employer, with over 400,000 employees, and ran 24,700 post offices throughout Japan. One third of all Japanese government employees worked for Japan Post. As of 2005, the President of the company was Masaharu Ikuta, formerly Chairman of Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd.

Japan Post ran the world's largest postal savings system and was often said to be the largest holder of personal savings in the world: with ¥224 trillion ($2.1 trillion) of household assets in its yū-cho savings accounts and ¥126 trillion ($1.2 trillion) of household assets in its kampo life insurance services, its holdings accounted for 25 percent of household assets in Japan. Japan Post also held about ¥140 trillion (one fifth) of the Japanese national debt in the form of government bonds.

On October 1, 2007 Japan Post was privatized following a fierce political debate that was settled by the general election of 2005. Following privatization, the Japan Post Group companies operate the postal business.

In 2010, privatization was put on hold. The Japanese Ministry of Finance remains the 100% shareholder. However, on October 26, 2012, the Japanese government unveiled plans to list shares of the Japan Post Holdings Company within three years, partly to raise money for the reconstruction of areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami of 2011.