The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's biggest banking group, raised the rates it offers on time deposits with a maturity of one year or over on March 20. The increase varies according to the size of the deposit and the length of maturity. The annual rate for a five-year deposit under 3 million yen, for example, has climbed to 0.23 percent from 0.1 percent. The rate hike, the bank's first in about five years, was copied by many other financial firms. It was spurred by criticism that Japanese banks weren't raising the rates on deposits as quickly as the rates for loans, which fluctuate in accordance with the market.

Another recent trend is that both companies and individuals are raising long-term funds by such means as issuing corporate bonds and housing loans with fixed long-term rates. There are two major factors behind this trend.

One is that the three excesses that emerged from the collapse of the bubble economy in the early 1990s -- employment, equipment and debt -- have been trimmed, paving the way for the real economy to expand.