the origins and early evolution of the modern Japanese postal system "Making use of private energies" -- postwar commissioned postmasters and the politics of self-preservation Public servants with private interests -- the view from inside The commissioned postmasters -- The postwar postal regime and the failure of reform -- the Hashimoto reforms Setting the stage -- Koizumi Jun'Ichiro and the politics of postal privatization -- the revenge of the postal regime Conclusion -- Reference matter -- Works cited -- Index
Japan is located in the Western North Pacific basin, the most active tropical cyclone region in the world. For the most recent normal period (1981-2010), an annual average of 25.6 typhoons formed in the basin with 5.4 of those storms coming within 300 km of the four main islands of Japan. Throughout the history of Japan, typhoons have been a major hazard bringing strong winds, high waves, and heavy rainfall with flooding and landslides to the country nearly every year. With or without potential changes in typhoon frequencies and intensities caused by anthropogenic climate change, typhoons are a significant problem for Japan. Most studies of typhoons in the Western North Pacific depend on modern data dating back only to 1951 with the more accurate satellite observations beginning in 1965. As a result, our understanding of typhoon behavior over the long term and under differing global climatic conditions remains incomplete. However, records and data do exist for earlier periods and can be used to reconstruct typhoon histories. Such records can used for periods that have no instrumental data and to add detail to periods with limited data. In our research, we use data from historical documents to reconstruct a list of typhoons affecting Japan in the 19th century and to describe and map these typhoons. We use data from: 1) Japanese historical documents including official and private diaries that have been entered into a Historical Weather Database; 2) Japanese government and academic compilations; 3) weather observations and compilations from outside Japan; 4) English language newspapers published in Japan; 5) Japan Imperial Meteorological Observatory Maps and Records. Combining data from these multiple sources makes it possible to reconstruct a meaningful record of typhoons of the past. This paper will review the data and methods we used, discuss some results to date, and preview potential uses for this research.
This paper offers a biased review of digital platforms introduced recently and operated by national posts in several European Union countries. Authors chose the most interesting cases, including those deemed as most successful, those that failed, and the most modern ones. The paper compares diverse European experience with modern solutions introduced by the Japan Post. Methods used for delivering the study included direct interviews with Japan Post officials and systematic review of official documents and announcements by national post operators in European countries covered bin the paper. European Union Member States, and their national postal operators seem to be well ahead of Japan in the way modern technology is utilized in the process of providing traditional (and new) postal services. Paper makes an attempt to show how representative national postal operators benefit from advanced Information and Telecommunication technology and by replacing the manner in which postal services are rendered. There are numerous successful cases of digital platform implementation, like those from Denmark, France, Czech Republic, and Poland, among others. One will find interesting insight into reasons for failed case from Italy among conclusions, at the end of the paper. Environmental issues are also addressed, along with e-government issues. It happens that European Union postal operators optimize their operations with modern technology in the form of digital platforms in a much wider scope than the Japan Post. Japanese organizations deal with extremely challenging geographic conditions. This, in turn, should motivate much more advanced optimization by the means of solutions enabled by digital platforms.
This paper offers a biased review of digital platforms introduced recently and operated by national posts in several European Union countries. Authors chose the most interesting cases, including those deemed as most successful, those that failed, and the most modern ones. The paper compares diverse European experience with modern solutions introduced by the Japan Post. Methods used for delivering the study included direct interviews with Japan Post officials and systematic review of official documents and announcements by national post operators in European countries covered bin the paper. European Union Member States, and their national postal operators seem to be well ahead of Japan in the way modern technology is utilized in the process of providing traditional (and new) postal services. Paper makes an attempt to show how representative national postal operators benefit from advanced Information and Telecommunication technology and by replacing the manner in which postal services are rendered. There are numerous successful cases of digital platform implementation, like those from Denmark, France, Czech Republic, and Poland, among others. One will find interesting insight into reasons for failed case from Italy among conclusions, at the end of the paper. Environmental issues are also addressed, along with e-government issues. It happens that European Union postal operators optimize their operations with modern technology in the form of digital platforms in a much wider scope than the Japan Post. Japanese organizations deal with extremely challenging geographic conditions. This, in turn, should motivate much more advanced optimization by the means of solutions enabled by digital platforms.
In December 2006, the U.S. Congress directed the Postal Regulatory Commission to prepare a "comprehensive review of the history and development of universal service and the postal monopoly." This review was to include a discussion of the evolution over time of the "scope and standards of universal service" for the nation as well as for its urban and rural areas. This review has been prepared in accordance with this directive. It is written from the standpoint of a historian rather than an economist or lawyer. That is, it tries to set the record straight, which is what I understand to be the primary obligation of the historian, rather than to test a hypothesis, as might an economist, or make a brief for a particular position, as might a lawyer. In this way, it complements other studies that are being prepared for the Postal Regulatory Commission.`
For the past several years, we have presented and published studies based on postal related data, from postmaster cash books and the Official Register, where we use postmaster salary data as a measure of local, highly disaggregate proxies for general economic activity at town and village level. Using micro-level, high frequency, nationally uniform and previously unknown data, we will report on the outcome of measuring levels of economic activity, political influence and social mobility phenomena. In our latest work, we will use a recently published work of railroad history investments in the 19th century. The railroad history we have is highly detailed, naming particular towns and routes. Our own micro data will allow us to associate our postmaster data with railway town information at the same micro level. Our data will also allow us to report the economic activity of non-railway towns. We will then have, at the micro-level, bi-annual comparisons made over the life of the railway routes. The relative economic, political and demographic impact of railway investment will be examined. For example, as we have the names, birthplaces and ethnic origins of postmasters in addition to their salaries. We can measure not just differences in economic activity between railway and non-railway towns but even examine questions like: "Are the railway towns places where new immigrants get to be postmasters more quickly than elsewhere?" Our larger purpose is to advertise our ever-expanding postal based dataset, which provides information of interest to economists, sociologists, historians and political scientists.
A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) faces major financial, operational, and human capital challenges that call for a transformation if USPS is to remain viable in the 21st century. Given these challenges, the President established a commission to examine the state of USPS and submit a report by July 31, 2003, with a proposed vision for USPS and recommendations to ensure the viability of postal services. The presidential commission has addressed worksharing (activities that mailers perform to obtain lower postage rates) in the course of its work. About three-quarters of domestic mail volume is workshared. Worksharing is fundamental to USPS operations, but is not well understood by a general audience. To help Congress and others better understand worksharing, GAO was asked to provide information on the key activities and the rationale for worksharing and the legal basis for worksharing rates. GAO discusses USPS's and the Postal Rate Commission's rationale for worksharing but did not assess the benefits that they claimed for worksharing. GAO will issue a second report later this year on worksharing issues raised by stakeholders. In commenting on this report, USPS and the Postal Rate Commission reemphasized the benefits of worksharing."
