Toshihiko Fukui
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Toshihiko Fukui (福井俊彦 Fukui Toshihiko, b. September 7, 1935) is the current Governor of the Bank of Japan. He graduated Tokyo University where he obtained his LLB. He was inaugurated on March 20, 2003.
Prior to joining the Bank, he served as the Vice Chairman of Keizai Doyukai, which is the Japan Association of Corporate Executives. Fukui has also held many former roles at the BOJ beginning in 1958. His last role prior to his departure in Nov 1998 was as Deputy Governor.
Fukui is generally viewed as a conservative candidate who would be expected to maintain monetary policy more or less in line with those of the former BOJ Governor, Masaru Hayami. However, after taking office, Fukui has proved that he is more open minded than Hayami and would not completely rule out more radical measures such as inflation targeting to revive the Japanese economy. Fukui is a savvy politician who knows that it is unwise to rule out any options. He seems to be more concerned about the economy and deflation than Hayami. In addition, he indicated that he would be more willing to accept a weaker Yen. Immediately after taking office Fukui announced that the BOJ will be increasing the amount of equities that they will be buying from banks, as well as increasing its purchases of Japanese government bonds (JGBs).