DPJ OKs BOJ deputy chief nominee Yamaguchi

TOKYO, Oct. 23 Kyodo - The biggest opposition Democratic Party of Japan formally decided Thursday to approve the government's nomination of Hirohide Yamaguchi as one of the Bank of
Japan's two deputy governors, party lawmakers said.

The decision paved the way for the Diet to vote Friday for the appointment of
Yamaguchi, currently a BOJ executive director, as a deputy chief in the central
bank, given the DPJ's overwhelming power in the House of Councillors.
The DPJ executive board met in the morning and endorsed the decision its
smaller panel made Tuesday to approve Yamaguchi.
The Diet is to have votes on him Friday. The House of Representatives, where
the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Taro Aso's Liberal Democratic Party
has a majority, is expected to pass Yamaguchi's nomination.
Appointment of BOJ executives requires approvals from both the upper and lower
houses.
One of the BOJ's No. 2 seats has been vacant since April due to political
wrangling.
The DPJ-led opposition camp has blocked some of the government's proposals for
the BOJ's top and deputy posts, citing various reasons.
One of those reasons involved the background of some of the nominees as a
former vice finance minister. The DPJ said their career experience would hurt
BOJ independence in managing monetary policy.
Yamaguchi is a dyed-in-the-wool official at the BOJ and mainly in charge of
interest rate policy planning.
The DPJ's approval is also widely seen as a sign of urgency among lawmakers
that conflict in political circles risks wasting time at a crucial moment for
monetary policy amid the global financial crisis and damaging the reputation of
Japanese politics in the world, observers say.
==Kyodo