Superheroes Need Not Apply for BOJ’s Top Job
The challenges facing Kuroda’s successor look almost conventional. There’s no sense of national peril this time.
Casting a long shadow.
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
When it comes to filling the vacancy at the top of the Bank of Japan, prospective candidates should take note — a crisis manager need not apply.
As the government prepares to name the successor to Haruhiko Kuroda after a decade in the big seat, the appointment will be a very different one to that made in the opening months of 2013. While BOJ skeptics bet they can force a transformative policy switch while the eyes of the world are on Japan's geopolitical renaissance, this is no job for a superhero. Ten years ago, Japan needed radical thinking for an urgent rescue from deflation, but this time, things are simpler. A regular central banker will suffice.