Under the traditional Japanese system, employees qualified for a lump sum at retirement (over and above the state pension scheme) after 30 years at the same firm, which strongly discouraged mid-career moves.

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Areas under dispute have included pay and pensions, with the CWU saying a pay rise came with unacceptable strings attached, and the Royal Mail wanting to scrap its final salary pension scheme and raise the retirement age.

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People who worked for the state, in state-owned companies or in state-approved collectives, enjoyed cradle-to-grave benefits ranging from housing, education and health care to a generous pension scheme, with an official retirement age of 55 for men and 50 for women for manual workers (but five years more for white-collar workers) and a replacement rate of about 80% of final salary.

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"You put into the pension scheme so that you get a decent retirement, " she says.

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It is very important not to lose sight of the main purpose of a pension scheme, which is to provide income in retirement.

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