Toshihiko Fukui

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Toshihiko Fukui (福井俊彦 Fukui Toshihiko, born September 7, 1935 in Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture) was the 29th Governor of the Bank of Japan in the period 20 Mar 2003 – 19 Mar 2008.

[edit] Personal history

He graduated from the University of Tokyo where he obtained his LLB. 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 left the BOJ after becoming embroiled in one of the many scandals that hit the Ministry of Finance and BOJ at the time. Banks, including the former Dai-ichi Kangyo Bank, were found to be entertaining BOJ and Ministry of Finance officials at expensive restaurants at the officials' insistence. One such restaurant was a hostess club featuring "no panties shabu shabu" which Fukui regularly visited. He escaped arrest for any wrongdoing, however, and took up a comfortable post-retirement research position at Fujitsu Research Institute. A change in BOJ promotion rules aimed at securing the BOJ's independence as a result of the scandals led to his rise to BOJ governor. In June 2006, Fukui came under fire from opposition lawmakers for his undisclosed 10 million yen investment in scandal-racked Murakami Fund. The discovery of the investment will likely lead to a tightening of asset disclosure requirements at the BOJ.

Fukui was 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). He also caused waves on 9 March 2006 when he announced that the BOJ would lift its five-year-old ultra-loose monetary policy, signalling a return to conventional interest rate target policy.