What would have been a cheerful sayonara news conference Wednesday evening for departing BOJ Gov. Toshihiko Fukui instead turned into an uncomfortable interrogation as he was peppered with questions about the Diet's failure to endorse his successor.
"It is regrettable," said Fukui, whose five-year term ended Wednesday. "It is unheard of in the (BOJ's) history that a successor has not been appointed" by the end of the departing governor's term.
Fukui emphasized that a key factor in choosing the next BOJ chief should be whether the candidate is determined to stabilize the yen, not where the nominee once worked.