Vote against privatisation bill in August led Prime Minister to dissolve parliament and call early elections. Now he has to talk before the upper house, the largest financial institution in the world.

Tokyo (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Japan's lower house of parliament has passed controversial bill to privatise the country's postal system. The bill will now go to the upper house, where a vote is expected to be held within the next few days.

Recently-re-elected Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has made privatisation of Japan Post the cornerstone of his economic reforms.

It was parliament's rejection of the plan in August which prompted Mr Koizumi to call a snap election last month.

Several former rebels there have said they will now support Mr Koizumi's plans since his landslide victory expresses the popular will.

State-owned Japan Post runs a savings bank with more than US trillion in assets. It runs nearly 25,000 post offices and employs some 400,000 workers. About 85 per cent of the population has postal savings.

Under Mr Koizumi's plan, the postal system would be fully private by 2017.

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• koizumi
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