Bank of Japan Gov. Toshihiko Fukui may say no to an interest rate increase this week. It won't be his last word on the subject.

Even before the market turmoil of last week, capped off by the U.S. Federal Reserve's surprise move Friday to lower the interest rate it charges banks, investors were betting BOJ policymakers would forgo an increase at their meeting this Wednesday and Thursday.

Still, the 71-year-old Fukui, now in the final months of his term, remains determined to secure his legacy of "normalizing" monetary policy by raising the lowest borrowing costs in the industrialized world.