Q10:YUBINKYOKU

YUBINKYOKU means a post office.
In Japan, post offices provide not only postal service but also banking service and insurance service as in the U.K. and some other European countries.


Privatization

Post offices had been managed by the government for more a hundred years since 1871. But the 87th prime minister(2001-2006) Junichiro Koizumi made a law which privatize post offices in 2005, and they were privatized and their services were divided into four companies in 2007.


Banking service

YUCHO-GINKO, or Japan Post Bank, provides the banking service and is one of the largest bank in the world. Probably, more than half of Japanese people have an account of the bank, and some have more than one.
Of course, there are many other banks in Japan, but YUCHO-GINKO is much more popular than them because it has many branches all over the country and many people, especially elderly people, think it's reliable.


Insurance service

KANPO-SEIMEI, or Japan Post Insurance, provides the insurance service and is one of the largest insurance company in the world as well.


Postal service

NIHON-YUBIN, or Japan Post, provides the postal service.
There are about a hundred thousand post boxes in Japan. Most of them are placed on the street and some are placed in convenience stores. Like in many other countries, a post box is painted in red, so you can easily recognize it.


NENGAJOU

Because of the widespread use of the e-mail, fewer and fewer people write letters nowadays.
However, most people write a special letter called NENGAJOU(New Year's cards) to their relatives, friends and colleagues on New Year's Day. While Average people send about 10 to 20 NENGAJOU, some people in high places send more than a thousand NENGAJOU to their customers and business partners. Of course, most people write a letter with a PC these days, but some people write hundreds of NENGAJOU by hand because many people prefer a letter written by hand.




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