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pub_date:Magazine's decision is seen by some as rightful recognitionBRITISH financial magazine The Banker's decision last week to name Bank of Japan (BOJ) governor Haruhiko Kuroda as "Central Banker of the Year" marks what some see as a rightful recognition of the achievements of an unsung hero of Japan's Abenomics revolution.mini storageMr Kuroda, who stepped into the role of BOJ governor last March, has managed in the space of nine months to turn around 15 years of deflation in Japan through aggressive monetary policy and sent Tokyo stock prices soaring while the yen has dropped to levels where Japan is internationally competitive again."With his statesmanship (Mr Kuroda) was able to pull such a bold move off in a way that restored credibility to the Bank of Japan and inspired confidence in Japan's economy," the monthly magazine, which is part of the Financial Times group, said.Some suggest that Abenomics is really "Kurodanomics" in the sense that the first of the so-called "three arrows" of Abenomics - monetary stimulus - has been the one to turn around perceptions of Japan while the impact of fiscal stimulus is smaller and structural reform is yet to materialise.But even as Mr Kuroda - a low-profile figure who, like others, has remained in the shadows while Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has taken the credit for Abenomics - basks in the limelight of recognition, there are growing concerns about a possible backlash against some aspects of his policies.Only last week, senior officials in Beijing and Seoul drew attention to what they claimed is excessive depreciation of the yen which has resulted from massive printing of new money by the BOJ under Mr Kuroda's leadership, while hinting that this could result in an East Asian currency war.Their reaction was coloured by Mr Abe's highly controversial decision to visit Tokyo's Yasukuni war shrine, which has provoked anger in East Asia. But the fact that the yen has plummeted to a five-year low against the dollar and slumped also against other leading currencies has not gone unnoticed elsewhere.Japan's economic policies (Abenomics) are "essentially based on aggressive quantitative monetary easing, sustained high levels of government spending and a beggar-thy neighbour devaluation strategy", former Goldman Sachs (Asia) vice-president Kenneth Courtis told BT.Another criticism levelled by some BOJ officials in private against Mr Kuroda, a former senior Japanese finance ministry official, is that he has allowed the Japanese central bank to be drawn much more closely into the orbit of the ministry, to a point where central bank independence is threatened.But the former president of the Asian Develop迷你倉ent Bank stepped into the role of governor at a time when Mr Abe, who had newly assumed office a year ago, was threatening to revise the Bank of Japan Law in ways that would diminish its power unless it cooperated more closely with the government.Mr Kuroda is nevertheless a fervent disciple of monetary easing. "Not only from an exchange rate point of view but also because of deflation. Japan has been the only country in the world to have deflation over the past 15 years," he told BT shortly before his appointment."I think this is really unusual and this situation must be stopped," he said, adding that Japan was caught in "a vicious circle of deflation and yen appreciation".Japan was, in fact, one of the first countries in the world to engage in so-called "quantitative and qualitative easing" (QQE) ahead of the US Federal Reserve, after Japan suffered a banking crisis a decade or so ago and when conventional money easing was impossible as interest rates had fallen to zero.But Mr Kuroda has pushed that policy much more aggressively since he assumed office, pledging to achieve 2 per cent annual consumer price inflation within two years from last April, by doubling the size of Japan's monetary base and by means of buying up financial assets on a massive scale.He has pledged in effect to do "whatever it takes" by having the BOJ print unlimited quantities of money - a target demanded by Mr Abe at the time he came to office. The BOJ has been too slow and too miserly in expanding its balance sheet as a means to counter deflation, Mr Kuroda told BT then."We are halfway on the road to overcoming the longstanding deflation, and the remaining path may be a bumpy one," The Banker quoted him as saying last week. "We will continue to make our utmost efforts in 2014 and after to achieve the BOJ's price stability target of 2 per cent."Mr Kuroda has insisted that it is "too soon" yet for the BOJ to consider an exit policy from aggressive monetary easing, even though the US Fed has begun its unwinding amid fears that this could cause disruption in international financial markets.The BOJ's actions have drawn support from economists such as Adam Posen, president of the Petersen Institute of International Economics in Washington and formerly a member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee."Deflation is 'sticky'," Mr Posen told BT at the time of Mr Kuroda's appointment. "The idea that you get into a trap and it is difficult to get out has some legitimacy.""You really do alter people's mindset and behaviour once deflation sets in and is allowed to persist. It affects forms of bargaining, pricing, ways of thinking about wages and so on."文件倉