A postal policy committee under Japan's Information and Communications Council is asking the public how to keep mail services running over the long term, and which parts of universal service matter most. The consultation opened on October 20, 2026 and closes at 23:59 on November 20, 2026.
The notice describes a voluntary consultation, not one required under the Administrative Procedure Act. Its fields for the title of an order and the legal basis are blank, and it lists no draft order. The committee says it will use the views in its future deliberations. No service reduction or operating change is attached to the notice.
Two questions
The first concerns what users need. The committee notes that economic and social conditions have changed greatly and that mail volumes are falling sharply. It asks how the need for postal service as a universal service should be viewed, how the level and types of service should be set, and what could add value to postal services.
The second concerns the network. The committee asks how to balance stable, sustainable operation of the postal business against the level of universal service that must be ensured. It also asks about sustainable ways to accept and deliver mail in disadvantaged areas.
What respondents are asked to do
The committee asks respondents to give reasons, evidence and concrete solutions wherever possible. On the level of universal service, it asks them to say which elements should take priority, and gives speed, reliability, price and frequency as examples. The notice quantifies none of these elements and proposes no change to any of them.
Submissions must be in Japanese. A comment of more than 1,000 characters needs a summary attached, and each comment should cite the page it addresses. Respondents can use the e-Gov online form, email to the committee secretariat, or post to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. The notice asks people to use e-Gov where possible and cites the risk of virus emails posing as submissions.
The committee may publish the name of an organisation and its representative alongside submitted comments, together with the attributes of the submitter. Names of individual submitters are not included. Organisations that want their name and representative's name withheld must say so. The committee will not reply to individual comments, may not treat late comments or those outside the consultation's scope as submissions, and may summarise comments when it publishes results.
Questions go to the postal division of the ministry's Postal Administration Department, on 03-5253-5975.