| Title | The Bank of Japan’s monetary policy from a rhetoric analysis perspective |
| Date | May 13, 2024 (Monday) 10:40-12:10 |
| Location | Room 3-608 |
| Abstract | The Bank of Japan (BOJ) has been a pioneer in introducing unconventional monetary easing tools and brought its communication to a new dimension when it introduced Quantitative and Qualitative Monetary Easing (QQE) in 2013, which was unique in seeking to explicitly affect public perceptions and inflation expectations not just with action (huge asset buying) but words (strong verbal commitment). In this session, I will explain how then governor Haruhiko Kuroda used rhetorical tools like modality and metaphor, to make his argument persuasive and enhance the effect of his monetary easing steps. Based on my master’s thesis work that looked into the BOJ governors’ speech texts, I will also show how the use of Kuroda’s rhetorical tools compared with that of his predecessors, and how it changed during the course of his 10-year term. Central bank communication has become a key tool for central banks pushing the boundaries of monetary policy. As a journalist covering the BOJ for decades, I hope to offer some insight into the potential and challenges of central bank communication from a rhetoric analysis perspective. |
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| Note | BIOGRAPHY Leika Kihara is an award-winning journalist at Reuters with experience covering the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy for nearly three decades. As chief policy correspondent of the Tokyo bureau, she currently leads Reuters’ coverage of Japanese economic news. She was a joint winner of the Society of Publishers in Asia (SOPA) 2014 Award for her investigative journalism of the Bank of Japan’s monetary experiment under then Governor Haruhiko Kuroda. She also received the Reuters Journalist of the Year award in 2012 and 2022. She received her Master’s Degree at the Graduate School of Political Science at Waseda University In March 2024. Her master’s thesis, “Rhetoric Analysis: Demystifying Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s Monetary Experiment,” was awarded the Dean’s Academic Prize. She can be reached at kiharaleika@gmail.com. |