Members of the Democratic Party of Japan said they will support the Bank of Japan's independence if they win the election and govern for the first time.
"We should respect the central bank's independence on monetary policy," Tsutomu Okubo, a director of the Upper House Financial Committee, said last month. Masaharu Nakagawa, the DPJ shadow finance minister, said last week the party wouldn't exert pressure on the BOJ keep rates low.
BOJ policymakers have come under pressure from Liberal Democratic Party politicians when raising borrowing costs: former BOJ Gov. Masaru Hayami was told his job may be on the line before ending the bank's zero-interest-rate policy in August 2000.