ABSTRACT
On May 21,1997, the Lower House of the Japanese Diet passed the first revision of the new Bank of Japan Law in half a century. It was passed by the Upper House in June and became effective on April 1, 1998. The old law had given the democratically elected government ways and means to influence the central bank, and it had named "support of national policy" as the main policy objective. The new law made the Bank of Japan legally independent, with only minimal reporting requirements to the government and the Ministry of Finance.
