NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) Group is the foremost telecommunications group in Japan. Once a public corporation, it was privatized in 1985 to break up its monopoly on the market and encourage competition. Today, 43% of NTT is owned by the state.

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Incorporated in 1949 as the Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation, Japan Tobacco (JT) was a state monopoly until 1985, when it was made public. Today, it dominates the Japanese tobacco market with more than two-thirds of the market share. Government share is presently 50%, and the company has diversified into food, pharmaceuticals, and other products and services. The international branch of the compay, JTI, handles the sale of Camel, Winston, and Salem cigarette brands outside of the United States.

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Japan Post is a public corporation offering postal packaging and delivery services, banking services, and life insurance. It operates 24,700 post offices and employs 260,000 government workers, and is said to be the largest holder of personal savings in the world, with ¥224 trillion ($2.1 trillion) of household assets in its savings accoutns and ¥126 trillion ($1.2 trillion) of household assets in its life insurance policies. A plan to privatize Japan Post is central to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform initiative and a controversial issue in Japanese politics.

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