, Columnists
Haruhiko Kuroda Spent 2022 Showing the Courage to Be Disliked
The Bank of Japan governor ticked nearly everyone off in a chaotic year. He won’t care.
Kuroda: One of Japan’s “faces of the year.”
Photographer: Gearoid Reidy/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Long a master of theatrics and timing, Haruhiko Kuroda spent 2022 making everyone upset — even before his pre-Christmas cracker of an announcement, in which he allowed long-term market interest rates to climb a little.
“The inflation caused by the weak yen is making the people suffer,” one opposition politician thundered to the Bank of Japan governor in parliament earlier this year, with the local currency trading at almost 150 to the US dollar. “As a Japanese, if you have the soul of a samurai, the natural thing to do would be to graciously resign.”