Sunday, Jan. 3, 2010
Kyodo News
The number of people who died in traffic accidents totaled 4,914 in 2009, down 4.7 percent from the previous year and less than 5,000 for the first time since 1952, the National Police Agency said in a preliminary report Saturday.
The number declined for the ninth straight year as more people use seat belts and the number of accidents caused by drunken driving and speeding continues to decrease.
The number of people who died in traffic accidents had stayed around 3,000 to 4,000 until 1952, when it started to surge in tandem with the country's rapid economic growth, which enabled more people to own cars.
The number of deaths rose above 10,000 in 1959 and peaked at 16,765 in 1970, before starting to decline.
Although the number began to rise again in the 1980s, statistics show that the number has generally been falling since around 1993.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Anti-amakudari policy has only limited success
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The government's attempt at publicly recruiting nonbureaucrats for executive posts at independent administrative institutions has ended up with only about half the posts filled by private sector officials, and one-third by former central government public servants, it was announced Wednesday.
For the 49 executive posts at 27 independent administrative institutions and corporations with a special semigovernmental status, 24 posts, or 49 percent, were filled by private sector appointees, and 16 (33 percent) were filled by former central government public servants.
The remaining nine (18 percent) have yet to be filled as the government was unable to find candidates other than former public servants suitable for the posts.
The government will readvertise these posts.
Public recruitment for directorial posts is designed to eliminate the so-called amakudari practice of retired high-ranking bureaucrats taking up executive posts at corporations and government-affiliated organizations. As the example of the case of independent administrative institutions shows, it is difficult to fill such executive posts with officials from the private sector alone.
(Jan. 1, 2010)
The government's attempt at publicly recruiting nonbureaucrats for executive posts at independent administrative institutions has ended up with only about half the posts filled by private sector officials, and one-third by former central government public servants, it was announced Wednesday.
For the 49 executive posts at 27 independent administrative institutions and corporations with a special semigovernmental status, 24 posts, or 49 percent, were filled by private sector appointees, and 16 (33 percent) were filled by former central government public servants.
The remaining nine (18 percent) have yet to be filled as the government was unable to find candidates other than former public servants suitable for the posts.
The government will readvertise these posts.
Public recruitment for directorial posts is designed to eliminate the so-called amakudari practice of retired high-ranking bureaucrats taking up executive posts at corporations and government-affiliated organizations. As the example of the case of independent administrative institutions shows, it is difficult to fill such executive posts with officials from the private sector alone.
(Jan. 1, 2010)
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