is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

economist, central banker and the 30th Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ), and professor at

Aoyama Gakuin University is a private Christian university in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Originally established in 1874 by missionaries from the Methodist Episcopal Church, it was reconfigured in its current form in 1949 as part of Aoyama Gakuin. Aoyama Gakuin University ...

. He is also a Director and Vice-Chairman of the

Bank for International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution owned by central banks that "fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks". The BIS carries out its work thr ...

(BIS).

Early life

Shirakawa was born in

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since anc ...

. and he graduated from high school in

Kokura is an ancient castle town and the center of Kitakyushu, Japan, guarding the Straits of Shimonoseki between Honshu and Kyushu with its suburb Moji. Kokura is also the name of the penultimate station on the southbound San'yō Shinkansen li ...

. In 1972, he was awarded a B.A. degree at the

University of Tokyo , abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project b ...

. In 1977, he earned an M.A. in Economics at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

Career

Shirakawa joined the Bank of Japan in 1972. His varied assignments at the bank included a period as General Manager at the Ōita branch. For a time, he was General Manager for the Americas at the bank's office in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Shirakawa joined the faculty of the graduate school of public policy at Kyoto University in 2006. He returned to BOJ in 2008. His nomination to be Governor of the Bank was approved on April 9, 2008. Masaaki ranks 6th on the world's most powerful by ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

'' along with economic triumvirs Ben Bernanke (4th) and

Jean-Claude Trichet Jean-Claude Trichet (; born 20 December 1942) is a French economist who served as President of the European Central Bank from 2003 to 2011. Previous to his assumption of the presidency he served as Governor of the Bank of France from 1993 to 2003 ...

(5th). Shirakawa's mandate is "to respond to changes in circumstances in a flexible and timely manner" in a way which can contribute to the

sustainable growth Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The desi ...

and development of Japan. In other words, this means that the role of the head of the BOJ is to effect price stability in Japan and to ensure stability of the financial system. In 2011 he was included in the 50 Most Influential ranking of

Bloomberg Markets ''Bloomberg Markets'' is a magazine published six times a year by Bloomberg L.P. as part of Bloomberg News. Aimed at global financial professionals, ''Bloomberg Markets'' publishes articles on the people and issues related to global financial ma ...

Magazine. He is a member in the

Group of Thirty The Group of Thirty, often abbreviated to G30, is an international body of financiers and academics which aims to deepen understanding of economic and financial issues and to examine consequences of decisions made in the public and private sec ...

. In 2013 he accepted a professor post at

Selected works

In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Masaaki Shirakawa, OCLC/

WorldCat WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the O ...

encompasses roughly 10+ works in 20+ publications in 3 languages and 110+ library holdings. * ''The Monetary Approach to the Balance of Payments and the Exchange Rate: an Empirical Study of Japan's Case'' (1980) * 図說日本銀行 (1993) * ''Financial Market Globalization: Present and Future'' (1997) * ''The Asset Price Bubble and Monetary Policy: Japan's Experience in the Late 1980s and the Lessons'' (2000) * "One Year Under Quantitative Easing" (2002) * ''Japan's Deflation, Problems in the Financial System and Monetary Policy'' (2005) * ''De-leveraging and Growth: Is the Developed World Following Japan's Long and Winding Road?'' (2012) * ''Tumultuous Times: Central Banking in an Era of Crisis'' (2021)

Notes

External links

Deputy Governor
Bank of Japan retrieved April 8, 2008
Highlights 4-Remarks by BOJ nominees Shirakawa and Watanabe

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

retrieved April 8, 2008
白川・渡辺両氏から所信聴取

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

retrieved April 8, 2008
小沢氏に振り回される福田首相　日銀人事めぐり (1/2ページ) – MSN産経ニュース
MSN Sankei News retrieved April 8, 2008
白川日銀総裁の同意決定へ＝民主 , 時事ドットコム

Jiji Press is a news agency in Japan. History Jiji was formed in November 1945 following the breakup of Domei Tsushin, the government-controlled news service responsible for disseminating information prior to and during World War II. Jiji inherited Dom ...

retrieved April 8, 2008
(webcast only) The Way out of Economic and Financial Crisis: Lessons and Actions
Masaaki Shirakawa addresses the current global economic crisis and offer lessons from Japan’s recent experience. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shirakawa, Masaaki 1949 births Living people Economy of Japan Governors of the Bank of Japan Group of Thirty Japanese economists Kyoto University faculty People from Kitakyushu University of Chicago alumni University of Tokyo alumni