Masazumi Wakatabe: Japan's economy and monetary policy

Speech by Mr Masazumi Wakatabe, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Japan, at a meeting with local leaders, Shizuoka, 2 February 2023.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Introduction

It is my great pleasure to have the opportunity today to exchange views with leaders in the fields of local government, economy, and finance in Shizuoka Prefecture. I would like to take this chance to express my sincere gratitude for your cooperation and support with the activities of the Bank of Japan's Shizuoka Branch.

Shizuoka Prefecture and the Bank have a special link to Ieyasu Tokugawa, who is gaining the spotlight in this year's NHK Taiga Drama (the annual year-long historical drama television series produced by NHK [Japan Broadcasting Corporation]). He was the first Shogun of the Edo period (1603-1867) and established several official gold mints, or kinza. Kinza-machi in Aoi Ward, where the Bank's Shizuoka Branch is located, was for a time (1607-1612) the place where one of the kinza called Suruga kobanza was based, as is suggested by its Japanese name. The kinza was subsequently moved to Edo (now Tokyo), and the Bank's current Head Office was built on that site. It is known that modern monetary policy with a view to achieving price stability through monetary control had already started to emerge during the Edo period. In a sense, the kinza played the role of the Bank of Japan to some extent at the time of the Edo Shogunate.