Hopes of smooth handover at the BoJ may be wishful thinking

Bank of Japan Governor Shirakawa’s announcement that he intends to leave office in March, a few weeks early, might ease the transition to a new leadership team. However, his move may not advance the process that much, depending on how accommodating the parliamentary opposition chooses to be. In particular, the markets’ favoured “dove”, Kazumusa Iwata, could still lose out to the current President of the Asian Development Bank, Haruhiko Kuroda, or to someone else who is yet to enter the frame.