"My responsibility is to put the rehabilitation plan on track," Eitaro Itoyama, JAL's largest individual shareholder, quoted Shinmachi as saying at a Feb. 16 meeting.

Itoyama, a former Diet member, wrote on his Web site that Shinmachi said he will head the country's top carrier until the end of March 2007.

During their two-hour meeting, Itoyama said he again urged Shinmachi to resign as early as possible, telling him it is "impossible to entrust the navigation of JAL to someone who cannot navigate people in the company."

Itoyama first proposed that Shinmachi step down in a posting on his Web site Feb. 6, saying JAL's rehabilitation efforts, prompted by a string of safety lapses, would not succeed under Shinmachi's management.

On Feb. 10, four JAL group directors visited Shinmachi with a petition containing 50 signatures urging him to resign along with Executive Vice President Katsuo Haneda and Senior Managing Director Hidekazu Nishizuka.

The Japan Times Weekly: Feb. 25, 2006
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