Bank of Japan

The Bank of Japan (日本銀行, Nippon Ginkō, BOJ, JASDAQ: 8301) is the central bank of Japan.^[1] The Bank is often called Nichigin (日銀) for short. It has its headquarters in Chūō, Tokyo.^[2]

History

Like most modern Japanese institutions, the Bank of Japan was founded after the Meiji Restoration. Prior to the Restoration, Japan's feudal fiefs all issued their own money, hansatsu, in an array of incompatible denominations, but the New Currency Act of Meiji 4 (1871) did away with these and established the yen as the new decimal currency, which had parity with the Mexican silver dollar.^[3] The former han (fiefs) became prefectures and their mints became private chartered banks which, however, initially retained the right to print money. For a time both the central government and these so-called "national" banks issued money. A period of unanticipated consequences was ended when the Bank of Japan was founded in Meiji 15 (October 10, 1882), under the Bank of Japan Act 1882 (June 27, 1882), after a Belgian model. It has since been partly privately owned (its stock is traded over the counter, hence the stock number).^[4] A number of modifications based on other national banks were encompassed within the regulations under which the bank was founded.^[5] The institution was given a monopoly on controlling the money supply in 1884, but it would be another 20 years before the previously issued notes were retired.^[6]

Following the passage of the Convertible Bank Note Regulations (May 1884), the Bank of Japan issued its first banknotes in 1885 (Meiji 18). Despite some small glitches—for example, it turned out that the konnyaku powder mixed in the paper to prevent counterfeiting made the bills a delicacy for rats—the run was largely successful. In 1897, Japan joined the gold standard,^[7] and in 1899 the former "national" banknotes were formally phased out.

The Osaka branch of the Bank of Japan is seen in the top right of this 1930 aerial photograph. The wide street in front of the bank is part of the Mido-Suji.

Since its Meiji era beginnings, the Bank of Japan has operated continuously from main offices in Tokyo and Osaka.

Reorganization

The Bank of Japan was reorganized in 1942^[1] (fully only after May 1, 1942), under the Bank of Japan Act of 1942 (日本銀行法昭和17年法律第67号), promulgated on February 24, 1942. There was a brief post-war period during the Occupation of Japan when the bank's functions were suspended, and military currency was issued. In 1949, the bank was again restructured.^[1]

In the 1970s, the Bank's operating environment evolved along with the transition from a fixed foreign currency exchange rate and a rather closed economy to a large open economy with a variable exchange rate.^[8]

During the entire post-war era, until at least 1991, the Bank of Japan's monetary policy has primarily been conducted via its 'window guidance' (窓口指導) credit controls (which are the model for the Chinese central bank's primary tool of monetary policy implementation), whereby the central bank would impose bank credit growth quotas on the commercial banks. The tool was instrumental in the creation of the 'bubble economy' of the 1980s. It was implemented by the Bank of Japan's then 'Business Department' (営業局), which was headed during the 'bubble years' from 1986 to 1989 by Toshihiko Fukui (who became deputy governor in the 1990s and governor in 2003).^[9]

A major 1997 revision of the Bank of Japan Act was designed to give it greater independence;^[10] however, the Bank of Japan has been criticized for already possessing excessive independence and lacking in accountability before this law was promulgated.^[11] A certain degree of dependence might be said to be enshrined in the new Law, article 4 of which states:

In recognition of the fact that currency and monetary control is a component of overall economic policy, the Bank of Japan shall always maintain close contact with the government and exchange views sufficiently, so that its currency and monetary control and the basic stance of the government's economic policy shall be mutually harmonious.

However, since the introduction of the new law, the Bank of Japan has persistently rebuffed government requests to stimulate the economy.^[12]

Following the election of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, the Bank of Japan has, with Abe's urging, taken proactive steps to curb deflation in Japan. On October 30, 2012, The Bank of Japan announced that it has undertaken further monetary-easing action for the second time in a month.^[13] Under the leadership of new Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, the Bank of Japan released a statement on April 5, 2013 announcing that it would be purchasing securities and bonds at a rate of 60-70 trillion yen a year in an attempt to double Japan's money base in two years.^[14]

Mission

The place of the foundation of the Bank of Japan

According to its charter, the missions of the Bank of Japan are

Issuance and management of banknotes
Implementation of monetary policy
Providing settlement services and ensuring the stability of the financial system
Treasury and government securities-related operations
International activities
Compilation of data, economic analyses and research activities

Location

The Bank of Japan Osaka Branch

The Bank of Japan is headquartered in Nihonbashi, Chūō, Tokyo, on the site of a former gold mint (the Kinza) and, not coincidentally, near the famous Ginza district, whose name means "silver mint". The Neo-baroque Bank of Japan building in Tokyo was designed by Tatsuno Kingo in 1896.

The Osaka branch in Nakanoshima is sometimes considered as the structure which effectively symbolizes the bank as an institution.

Governors

Governor of the Bank of Japan
Incumbent Haruhiko Kuroda since March 20, 2013
Style	His Excellency
Appointer	Prime Minister
Term length	Five years
Inaugural holder	Yoshihara Shigetoshi
Formation	October 6, 1882

The Governor of the Bank of Japan (総裁, sōsai) has considerable influence on the economic policy of the Japanese government. Japanese lawmakers endorse the Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda. He is seen to adopt Reflation policy as part of Abenomics.^[15]

List of governors

#	Governor	Took Office	Left Office
1	Yoshihara Shigetoshi	October 6, 1882	December 19, 1887
2	Tomita Tetsunosuke	February 21, 1888	September 3, 1889
3	Kawada Koichiro	September 3, 1889	November 7, 1896
4	Iwasaki Yanosuke	November 11, 1896	October 20, 1898
5	Tatsuo Yamamoto	October 20, 1898	October 19, 1903
6	Shigeyoshi Matsuo	October 20, 1903	June 1, 1911
7	Korekiyo Takahashi	June 1, 1911	February 20, 1913
8	Yatarō Mishima	February 28, 1913	March 7, 1919^[16]
9	Junnosuke Inoue (First)	March 13, 1919	September 2, 1923
10	Otohiko Ichiki	September 5, 1923	May 10, 1927
11	Junnosuke Inoue (Second)	May 10, 1927	June 1, 1928
12	Hisaakira Hijikata	June 12, 1928	June 4, 1935
13	Eigo Fukai	June 4, 1935	February 9, 1937
14	Seihin Ikeda	February 9, 1937	July 27, 1937
15	Toyotaro Yuki	July 27, 1937	March 18, 1944
16	Keizo Shibusawa	March 18, 1944	October 9, 1945
17	Eikichi Araki (First)	October 9, 1945	June 1, 1946
18	Hisato Ichimada	June 1, 1946	December 10, 1954
19	Eikichi Araki (Second)	December 11, 1954	November 30, 1956
20	Masamichi Yamagiwa	November 30, 1956	December 17, 1964
21	Makoto Usami	December 17, 1964	December 16, 1969
22	Tadashi Sasaki	December 17, 1969	December 16, 1974
23	Teiichiro Morinaga	December 17, 1974	December 16, 1979
24	Haruo Maekawa	December 17, 1979	December 16, 1984
25	Satoshi Sumita	December 17, 1984	December 16, 1989
26	Yasushi Mieno	December 17, 1989	December 16, 1994
27	Yasuo Matsushita	December 17, 1994	March 20, 1998
28	Masaru Hayami	March 20, 1998	March 19, 2003
29	Toshihiko Fukui	March 20, 2003	March 19, 2008
30	Masaaki Shirakawa	April 9, 2008	March 19, 2013
31	Haruhiko Kuroda	March 20, 2013	Incumbent

Monetary Policy Board

As of October 2014, the board responsible for setting monetary policy consisted of the following 9 members:

Haruhiko Kuroda, Governor of the BOJ
Kikuo Iwata, Deputy Governor of the BOJ
Hiroshi Nakaso, Deputy Governor of the BOJ
Ryuzo Miyao
Yoshihisa Morimoto
Sayuri Shirai
Koji Ishida
Takehiro Sato
Takahide Kiuchi

^[17]

Notes

1 2 3 Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric. (2005). "Nihon Ginkō" in Japan encyclopedia, p. 708., p. 708, at Google Books
↑ "Guide Map to the Bank of Japan Tokyo Head Office." Bank of Japan. Retrieved on December 22, 2009.
↑ Nussbaum, "Banks" at p. 69., p. 69, at Google Books
↑ Vande Walle, Willy et al. "Institutions and ideologies: the modernization of monetary, legal and law enforcement 'regimes' in Japan in the early Meiji-period (1868-1889)" (abstract). FRIS/Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2007; retrieved 2012-10-17.
↑ Longford, Joseph Henry. (1912). Japan of the Japanese, p. 289.
↑ Cargill, Thomas et al. (1997). The political economy of Japanese monetary policy, p. 10.
↑ Nussbaum, "Banks" at p. 70., p. 70, at Google Books
↑ Cargill, p. 197.
↑ Werner, Richard (2002). ‘Monetary Policy Implementation in Japan: What They Say vs. What they Do’, Asian Economic Journal, vol. 16 no.2, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 111-151; Werner, Richard (2001). Princes of the Yen, Armonk: M. E. Sharpe
↑ Cargill, p. 19.
↑ Horiuchi, Akiyoshi (1993), "Japan" in Chapter 3, "Monetary policies" in Haruhiro Fukui, Peter H. Merkl, Hubrtus Mueller-Groeling and Akio Watanabe (eds.), The Politics of Economic Change in Postwar Japan and WWest Germany, vol. 1, Macroeconomic Conditions and Policy Responses, London: Macmillan. Werner, Richard (2005), New Paradigm in Macroeconomics, London: Macmillan.
↑ See rebuffed requests by the government representatives at BOJ policy board meetings: e.g. or refusals to increase bond purchases: Bloomberg News
↑ "Bank of Japan Expands Asset-Purchase Program.". The Wall Street Journal.
↑ Riley, Charles (April 4, 2013). "Bank of Japan takes fight to deflation". CNN.
↑ "Japan: The Great Reflation Play Of 2013". TheStreet.com. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
↑ Masaoka, Naoichi. (1914). Japan to America, p. 127.
↑ "Policy Board".

References

Cargill, Thomas F., Michael M. Hutchison and Takatoshi Itō. (1997). The political economy of Japanese monetary policy. Cambridge: MIT Press. ISBN 9780262032476; OCLC 502984085
Longford, Joseph Henry. (1912). Japan of the Japanese. New York: C. Scribner's sons. OCLC 2971290
Masaoka, Naoichi. (1914). Japan to America: A Symposium of Papers by Political Leaders and Representative Citizens of Japan on Conditions in Japan and on the Relations Between Japan and the United States. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons (Japan Society). OCLC 256220
Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5; OCLC 48943301
Vande Walle, Willy et al. "Institutions and ideologies: the modernization of monetary, legal and law enforcement 'regimes' in Japan in the early Meiji-period (1868-1889)" (abstract). FRIS/Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2007.
Werner, Richard A. (2005). New Paradigm in Macroeconomics: Solving the Riddle of Japanese Macroeconomic Performance. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781403920737; ISBN 9781403920744; OCLC 56413058
_____________. (2003). Princes of the Yen: Japan's Central Bankers and the Transformation of the Economy. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 978-0-7656-1048-5; OCLC 471605161

External links

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Topics

Coinage

Rin	1r 5r

Sen	1s 5s 10s 50s

Yen	¥1 ¥5 ¥10 ¥50 ¥100 ¥500 ¥1000 ¥10,000

Other	Ōban Koban Ichibuban Mon Ryō Wadōkaichin

Banknotes

Sen	5s 10s 50s

Yen	¥1 ¥5 ¥10 ¥50 ¥100 ¥500 ¥1000 ¥2000 ¥5000 ¥10,000

Military	A yen B yen

Central banks

Global

Global	Bank for International Settlements Basel Committee on Banking Supervision Financial Stability Board

By continent

Africa	Bank of Central African States Central Bank of West African States Bank of Algeria National Bank of Angola Bank of Botswana Bank of the Republic of Burundi Bank of Cape Verde Central Bank of the Comoros Central Bank of the Congo Central Bank of Djibouti Central Bank of Egypt Bank of Eritrea National Bank of Ethiopia Central Bank of The Gambia Bank of Ghana Central Bank of the Republic of Guinea Central Bank of Kenya Central Bank of Lesotho Central Bank of Liberia Central Bank of Libya Central Bank of Madagascar Reserve Bank of Malawi Central Bank of Mauritania Bank of Mauritius Bank Al-Maghrib (Morocco) Bank of Mozambique Bank of Namibia Central Bank of Nigeria National Bank of Rwanda Central Bank of São Tomé and Príncipe Central Bank of Seychelles Bank of Sierra Leone Central Bank of Somalia Bank of Somaliland South African Reserve Bank Bank of South Sudan Central Bank of Sudan Central Bank of Swaziland Bank of Tanzania Central Bank of Tunisia Bank of Uganda Bank of Zambia Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe

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Asia	Da Afghanistan Bank Central Bank of Bahrain Bangladesh Bank Royal Monetary Authority of Bhutan Brunei Currency and Monetary Board Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam National Bank of Cambodia People's Bank of China Hong Kong Monetary Authority Reserve Bank of India Bank Indonesia Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran Central Bank of Iraq Bank of Israel Bank of Japan Central Bank of Jordan National Bank of Kazakhstan National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic Bank of Korea Central Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Central Bank of Kuwait Banque du Liban Monetary Authority of Macao Bank Negara Malaysia Maldives Monetary Authority Bank of Mongolia Central Bank of Myanmar Nepal Rastra Bank Central Bank of Oman State Bank of Pakistan Palestine Monetary Authority Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Qatar Central Bank Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency Monetary Authority of Singapore Central Bank of Sri Lanka Central Bank of Syria Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Bank of Thailand Central Bank of Turkmenistan Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates Central Bank of Uzbekistan State Bank of Vietnam Central Bank of Yemen

Europe	European Central Bank (Eurosystem) National Bank of the Republic of Abkhazia Bank of Albania Central Bank of Armenia National Bank of Austria Central Bank of Azerbaijan National Bank of the Republic of Belarus National Bank of Belgium Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgarian National Bank Croatian National Bank Central Bank of Cyprus Czech National Bank Danmarks Nationalbank (Denmark) Deutsche Bundesbank (Germany) Bank of England Bank of Estonia Bank of Finland Banque de France National Bank of Georgia Bank of Greece Hungarian National Bank Central Bank of Iceland Central Bank of Ireland Banca d'Italia Central Bank of Kosovo Bank of Latvia Bank of Lithuania Central Bank of Luxembourg National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia Central Bank of Malta National Bank of Moldova Central Bank of Montenegro De Nederlandsche Bank Norges Bank Central Bank of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus National Bank of Poland Banco de Portugal National Bank of Romania Central Bank of Russia National Bank of Serbia National Bank of Slovakia Bank of Slovenia Gosbank (Soviet Union) Bank of Spain Swedish National Bank Swiss National Bank Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey National Bank of Ukraine

Oceania	Reserve Bank of Australia Reserve Bank of Fiji Reserve Bank of New Zealand Bank of Papua New Guinea Central Bank of Samoa Central Bank of Solomon Islands National Reserve Bank of Tonga

Policies and implementation

Policies	Capital requirement Contractionary monetary policy Expansionary monetary policy Basel II Basel III Basel 4

Implementation	Capital control Discount rate Interest rates Money creation Open market operation Sovereign wealth fund

Bretton Woods system

International Monetary Fund World Bank Group International Bank for Reconstruction and Development International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes International Development Association International Finance Corporation Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency

Lists

List of central banks Central banks and currencies of Africa Central banks and currencies of the Caribbean Central banks and currencies of Central America and South America

Names in italics indicate non-sovereign (dependent) territories, former countries, or states with limited recognition

Economy of Japan

History	Economic history of Japan Foreign commerce and shipping of Empire of Japan Agriculture in the Empire of Japan Japanese asset price bubble Japanese post-war economic miracle Lost Decade (Japan) Zaibatsu Nemawashi Simultaneous recruiting of new graduates Shūshin koyō Nenko System Salaryman Keiretsu Japanese management culture Standard of living in Japan Amakudari

Currency	Bank of Japan Banknotes of the Japanese yen Japan Mint Japanese yen National Printing Bureau Tokugawa coinage Scrip of Edo period Japan

Banking and Finance	Nikkei 225 Osaka Securities Exchange Tokyo Stock Exchange Financial services in Japan Japanese financial system Monetary and fiscal policy of Japan Capital flows in Japan

Government agencies	Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Japan External Trade Organization Development Bank of Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (Japan)

Taxation & Labor market	Taxation in Japan National Tax Agency Labor market Labor unions in Japan

Energy	Energy in Japan Solar power in Japan List of power stations in Japan List of Japan natural gas companies

Rankings	International rankings of Japan

Industry	Construction industry of Japan Automotive industry in Japan Japanese employment law Japanese domestic market Transportation in Japan Manufacturing industries of Japan Agriculture, forestry, and fishing in Japan Fishing industry in Japan Whaling in Japan Mining in Japan Consumer electronics in Japan Private enterprise in Japan Japanese public corporations Defense industry of Japan

Associations	Japan Business Federation Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association

Other topics	Research and development in Japan Industrial policy of Japan Government-business relations in Japan Economic relations of Japan Exports Japan public debt

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