Ex-vice finance minister Saito tapped as Japan Post chief+

TOKYO, Oct. 21 Kyodo -
The government has picked former Vice Finance Minister Jiro Saito to succeed
Yoshifumi Nishikawa as president of Japan Post Holdings Co., Shizuka Kamei,
state minister in charge of postal reform, said Wednesday.

The announcement came a day after the new government led by the Democratic
Party of Japan adopted a policy to overhaul Japan's postal privatization
initiated by the previous government, leading Nishikawa to announce his
intention to resign.
''I think it will be a tough job. I will do my best,'' Saito, currently
president of Tokyo Financial Exchange Inc., said at a press conference in
Tokyo.
Saito, 73, declined to make any comments on Japan Post, including how he
intends to head the entity as well as the new government's policy on Japan's
postal system, saying it would not be appropriate to make such comments before
formally assuming the Japan Post presidency.
Saito's appointment is subject to approval by Japan Post's nomination committee
headed by Hiroshi Okuda, a senior adviser of Toyota Motor Corp.
With the personnel change, the management responsibility of the Japan Post
group will shift to a former bureaucrat from the hands of the private sector as
Nishikawa, 71, previously served as president of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.
as well as Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc.
Kamei said at a separate press conference when asked about the reason for
Saito's nomination, ''We share almost the same ideas for drastically reviewing
Japan Post.''
Since taking power on Sept. 16, the DPJ-led ruling coalition has been reviewing
the existing postal privatization process, launched in October 2007 in line
with the reform drive of the previous government led by the Liberal Democratic
Party.
The government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama adopted a new policy at a
Cabinet meeting Tuesday under which the manner and course of the reform process
will be changed drastically.
On Wednesday Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano swept aside criticism that
the move goes against the Hatoyama government's policy of abolishing
''amakudari,'' the practice in which bureaucrats often secure lucrative jobs
after retiring from the civil service at companies and entities operating in
the areas that they formerly supervised.
The DPJ-led ruling coalition has banned in principle retired national civil
servants from taking jobs at independent administrative agencies and
quasi-governmental corporations in response to public criticism of the
practice.
Hatoyama also said, ''In Mr. Jiro Saito's case, it has already been (15 years)
since he retired from the Finance Ministry.'' Noting that he discussed the
issue with Kamei the previous night, the prime minister told reporters, ''We've
reached the conclusion that if a person truly has ability, we should recognize
him.''
Saito said his status as a former bureaucrat should not be a problem as more
than a decade has passed since he left the Finance Ministry and he strove hard
for years as the head of a company operating the Tokyo Financial Exchange. ''I
do not have a sense that I'm a former bureaucrat,'' he said.
Saito joined the Ministry of Finance in 1959 after graduating from the
University of Tokyo and served in several key posts at the ministry, including
director general of the Budget Bureau.
In May 2000, he took the helm of the Financial Futures Exchange, a precursor to
the current Financial Exchange, which handles more comprehensive financial
products.
Saito is said to maintain close ties with DPJ Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa.
Meanwhile, Nishikawa took the helm of Japan Post's predecessor firm that was
established in 2006 in preparation for the privatization of state-run postal
services at the request of then Prime Minister Koizumi. As the 10-year
privatization process began in October 2007, he assumed the presidency of Japan
Post.
Nishikawa said Tuesday he will hand in his resignation to Japan Post's board
meeting on Oct. 28 due to a ''big difference'' in the policy on handling Japan
Post's privatization between the previous and current governments.
He has repeatedly faced calls from Hatoyama Cabinet members for his resignation
as the new government seeks to drastically revamp Japan Post under new
management.
==Kyodo