BoJ Governor's Absence May Tilt June Meeting Toward Caution Over Hawkish Signals

Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda was hospitalized June 10 for an infected liver cyst and will miss the Policy Board meeting scheduled for mid-June. A Deputy Governor will chair in his absence. The timing matters: the BoJ is navigating a complex monetary exit, and each meeting's forward guidance carries outsized weight. Without Ueda anchoring consensus from the chair, markets may assume a more conservative tone—avoiding incremental hawkish signals that would normally be on the table. This uncertainty widens the distribution of possible rate outcomes.