Former Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda probably did not expect to end his 10-year term last April without being able to achieve the central bank's goal of sustainable 2% inflation backed by a healthy wage increase.
In fact, he initially thought it was possible in just two years.
If Kuroda had had one more year, he might have been able to witness a different ending to his tenure, as expectations are growing that Japan will finally phase out its unprecedented run of monetary stimulus in 2024 to seek normalization.