Bank of Japan

The Bank of Japan, or Nichigin, opened its doors on October 10, 1882, with 10 million yen in capital and a 30-year operating license. Matsukata Masayoshi, the finance minister who later became prime minister, pushed for its creation to modernize Japan's financial system after the Meiji Restoration. The headquarters in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, designed by Tatsuno Kingo, was completed in 1896 on the site of a former gold mint. Its eclectic style took cues from the Bank of England and the National Bank of Belgium.

Under the 1997 Bank of Japan Act, which took effect in 1998, the bank gained formal independence from the government. But that independence has been tested repeatedly. During Haruhiko Kuroda's decade-long tenure, the BOJ launched an unprecedented quantitative easing program that made it the largest holder of Japanese stocks. At its peak, the bank owned about 7 percent of the Tokyo Stock Exchange's total market cap, holding ETFs worth well over 50 trillion yen. That meant it became a major shareholder in companies like Fast Retailing (Uniqlo), Kikkoman, and Yamaha.

Kazuo Ueda took over as governor in April 2023, inheriting a massive balance sheet and the challenge of normalizing policy after years of negative interest rates and yield curve control. The bank has begun raising rates, with the uncollateralized overnight call rate sitting around 1.0 percent in early 2025. Meanwhile, the BOJ holds roughly $1.12 trillion in foreign exchange reserves and continues to explore a digital yen through its CBDC research. [edit]