英字新聞

The Yomiuri Shimbun(Jun. 30, 2009)
Nishikawa's return subject to conditions
郵政株主総会　西川社長再任は条件付きだ（6月30日付・読売社説）

Will the reappointment of Japan Post Holdings' incumbent directors improve the corporate culture of the scandal-tainted company?
　数々の不祥事を起こした日本郵政の体質が、これで変わるだろうか。

The government, as the company's sole stockholder, approved the reappointment of all of Japan Post Holdings' nine directors, including Yoshifumi Nishikawa as president, at a general meeting of shareholders held at its head office in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo, on Monday. The decision on personnel was then finalized with the approval of Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Tsutomu Sato, who is responsible for overseeing Japan's postal system.
　２９日に開かれた日本郵政の株主総会で、国は西川善文社長ら取締役９人全員の再任を承認し、佐藤総務相も人事を認可した。

The government decided to let the current management continue to operate Japan Post after it examined and accepted the company's responses to its business improvement order--imposed after the envisaged sale of Kampo no Yado hotels and resort facilities at unreasonably low prices came to light--and the company's punitive actions against the employees involved, including pay cuts for Nishikawa and the other directors.
　「かんぽの宿」売却に関する業務改善命令への回答や、西川社長ら役員の報酬カットなど社内処分を受け入れ、現経営陣にかじ取りを任せた。

However, a majority of the public are very critical of Nishikawa's reappointment, according to several opinion polls. The opposition Democratic Party of Japan said that it would fire Nishikawa if the party wins the upcoming House of Representatives election and takes power. Nishikawa should run the company in a humble manner, considering his reappointment as Japan Post president is subject to conditions.
　しかし、続投については国民の多くが強く批判しており、民主党も衆院選で勝利して政権を取った場合は、更迭する意向を表明している。西川社長は、あくまで条件付きの再任と受け止め、謙虚に経営にあたらねばならない。

The bidding on the Kampo no Yado hotels was handled in a very suspicious way with higher bids not chosen and no record kept of the negotiation process.
　「かんぽの宿」の入札では、高額での購入提案が選ばれず、交渉過程の記録もないなど、極めて不自然だった。

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Staff held accountable

Four of the company's senior officials, who came from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. and were known as "Team Nishikawa," have been held responsible for that and will be dismissed soon to return to the bank. But, Nishikawa, too, bears heavy responsibility for letting his staff get out of control.
　こうした責任を問われ、三井住友銀行出身で、「チーム西川」と呼ばれた幹部４人は近く解任されて、銀行に戻る。部下の暴走を許した西川社長の責任は重い。

According to the company's business improvement plan, Japan Post will establish a new management advisory committee to monitor its problem-plagued management system. The company will also create a new post of chairman and appoint one of the external board members to the post. The chairman will double as head of the committee. To accomplish the improvement plan's aims, the current external board members who overlooked the scandals should not stay, but should be replaced with new members invited from outside the company.
　多くの問題が見つかった経営手法を監視するため、経営諮問会議を新設する。議長は社外取締役から選ぶ会長が兼任する。趣旨を生かすには、不祥事を見過ごしてきた現在の社外取締役でなく、外部から新たに招くのが筋だ。

According to Japan Post's plan, the Kampo no Yado enterprise, which is the original cause of the whole problem, posted a deficit of 5.4 billion yen in fiscal 2008 but should move into the black in fiscal 2011.
　問題の発端となったかんぽの宿は、２００８年度に５４億円の赤字だった事業を、１１年度に黒字にする計画という。

The turnaround is intended to allow Japan Post to sell the resort facilities at higher prices, but can Japan Post end the hotels' chronic deficits through only such conventional measures as developing a new customer base and reducing labor costs?
　高値で売却するためだが、新規顧客の開拓や人件費削減などありきたりの方策で、長年の赤字体質から抜け出せるのだろうか。

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Deadline looming

The Kampo no Yado hotels are required to be either sold or shut down and liquidated by autumn 2012. If business conditions remain tough, such as lingering doldrums in real estate prices, Japan Post should consider the option of disposing of those facilities with huge deficits first, but waiting for better circumstances to sell the others.
　かんぽの宿は２０１２年の秋までに売却か廃止が義務づけられている。不動産価格の低迷が長引くなど環境が悪ければ、赤字の大きい施設などは処分しつつ、有利な売り時を待つ選択肢もあろう。

In the privatization of postal services, it is necessary to both promote efficiency and and preserve the universality of services such as mail delivery. We must closely monitor the postal service privatization to prevent it from focusing exclusively on efficiency and make it an instance of privatization the public can consider a success as the internal affairs and communication minister said.
　民営化では、効率アップと郵便などのサービス維持の両立が求められる。効率一辺倒になっていないか、佐藤総務相の言う「国民が良かったと思う民営化」にできるか厳しく監視せねばならない。

Both Japan Post Bank and Japan Post Insurance will be fully privatized by October 2017.
　ゆうちょ銀行とかんぽ生命保険は、２０１７年１０月までに完全民営化する。

But, the two companies will be criticized for "oppressing private companies" if they try to expand their businesses to seek sufficient revenues in preparation for full privatization. It is essential for them to sufficiently explain their actions to win the public's understanding.
　独り立ちに必要な収益を求めて業務を拡大すれば、「民業圧迫」の批判も出るだろう。理解を得るための説明が欠かせない。

However, Nishikawa seems to be insincere at times as he refused to hold press conferences on some important occasions, such as when he gave the final business improvement report to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. We would like to ask him to be fully accountable as president of Japan Post Holdings.
　西川社長は、総務省への最終報告など節目で記者会見に応じないなど、誠実さに欠ける面も見られた。説明責任をしっかり果たすよう求めたい。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 30, 2009)
（2009年6月30日01時59分 読売新聞）