Bank of Japan Succession: Deputy Governor Uchida Returns From Leukemia to Unwind Ultra-Easy Money
- Toyo Keizai profiles Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida, back from leukemia treatment and still driving rate hikes and balance-sheet normalization
- A decade of ultra-easy policy left a super-weak yen and bond-loss legacy that the current board must clean up
- Former Governor Kuroda has stayed largely silent since leaving; Uchida remains on the front line
- Uchida is a leading candidate for the next governorship, a choice that will set the pace of normalization for years
For anyone holding yen assets, the Bank of Japan's succession race is a wallet issue, not palace intrigue. Toyo Keizai's profile follows Deputy Governor Shinichi Uchida, who returned from leukemia treatment and went straight back to the least rewarding job in Japanese finance: unwinding the legacy of a decade of ultra-easy money. That legacy is concrete. From 2013 the BOJ bought government bonds at a pace of 80 trillion yen a year, then layered on negative rates and yield-curve control in 2016. The side effects arrived after 2022 as a super-weak yen and imported inflation, while rising rates now expose the BOJ's bond portfolio and Japan's debt load, which exceeds twice its GDP. Uchida designed the practical exit: negative rates ended in March 2024, followed by hikes in July 2024 and January 2025. The contrast with departed architects of easing gives the story its edge, and his candidacy for the top job raises the stakes. Three scenarios diverge sharply: continuity under Uchida supports the yen; a politically driven dovish pick reignites depreciation; a stalemate breeds volatility first. Watch the succession signals ahead of Governor Ueda's April 2028 term end, Uchida's language on balance-sheet runoff, and any hints about the neutral rate. Whoever inherits this fire also rewrites the yen's pricing logic.