Govt to End Current Bureaucrat Exam Format in FY '11

Tokyo, Jan. 14 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese government plans to abolish the current level-one examination for national civil servants, which is used to hire fast-track "career" bureaucrats, in fiscal 2011, Jiji Press learned Wednesday.

In fiscal 2012, the government will introduce a new examination for
jobs under three categories--comprehensive, general and specialist posts,
according to a draft of the government's program to overhaul its civil
servants' system obtained by Jiji Press.
The step is in line with civil servant system overhaul legislation
enacted in June last year, which calls for completing various reform steps
within five years.
Prime Minister Taro Aso has decided to move the schedule forward by
one year.
Ahead of the abolition of the current level-one examination, the
government will set a training course for candidates for senior managing
posts and start actual training in fiscal 2010.
The draft also calls on the government to submit a bill to the
current parliament session to create a personnel agency that would manage
data on senior government bureaucrats in April 2010.
In addition, the government will study steps to create a system
that allows bureaucrats to work until retirement age, as part of an effort
to prevent senior bureaucrats from landing lucrative jobs in industry
sectors and other fields they used to oversee.