The government stays out of management matters as much as possible, allowing the JR companies to operate in fact as private companies. However, at present, all stock of the JR companies other than JR East is held by the JNR Settlement Corporation. The ideal is to place all stocks on the market as early as possible, leaving the monitoring of JR operations to stockholders.
As a starter, in October 1993, the stocks of the JR East, the most profitable company of the JR Group, was placed onto the market and JR West applied to list its stocks in June 1996 and then in October it was placed onto the market. From now the stocks of other JR companies are requested to be placed on the stock market as soon as possible.
Long-term debts of JNR Settlement Corporation Amount to \27,600 billion. (April, 1996) The repayment of debts, the major remaining problem to be solved, must be carried out rapidly through the sale of stocks and land.
