Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa's former professor said the next central bank chief could end decades of deflation in just months by going beyond the current head's "very weak" efforts.
The BOJ shouldn't ease until inflation of 2 or 3 percent is reached, Koichi Hamada, 76, a retired Yale University economics professor who taught Shirakawa at the University of Tokyo, said in an interview Tuesday.
That would be "no problem" if opposition leader Shinzo Abe, whom Hamada advises on policy, wins the Dec. 16 Lower House election with his Liberal Democratic Party, as polls suggest, and appoints a more aggressive central bank chief, he said.