Mumbai: The Bank of Japan is without a governor for the first time in more than eight decades after the opposition rejected two ruling party candidates, both of whom were former top finance ministry bureaucrats.

The Japanese government failed to appoint a successor to Toshihiko Fukui, whose five-year tenure as governor of the Bank of Japan expired yesterday.

"For the first time in our post-war history, today became the day when we do not have a governor for the Bank of Japan (BoJ)," prime minister Yasuo Fukuda said in a regular emailed colum.

The developments that followed domestic political bickering, come at a time of global financial turmoil.

"This incident has shown the rest of the world that Japan cannot make significant decisions through political processes," he said.

Fukuda said he had discussed the issue with opposition members of parliament, but the main opposition, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), had refused to co-operate.

"Political responsibility for the public cannot be served if you only wield veto power and wait for a deadline," Fukuda said.

Fukuda said he would wait until next month before nominating another candidate.
The government needs approval from both legislative houses to appoint a central bank governor.

Jpanese parliament has been divided since the opposition won control of the Upper House last July in a landmark defeat for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

The DPJ-controlled Upper House had voted down two candidates proposed by the Fukuda government - Toshiro Muto and Koji Tanami.

They argued that both nominees were too entrenched in the finance ministry to preserve the independence of the central bank.

Parliament, however, has recommended two new deputy governors, Masaaki Shirakawa, a professor and former BoJ executive director, and Kiyohiko Nishimura, a statistician at the University of Tokyo and a former research fellow at Washington's Brookings Institution.

Shirakawa will serve as acting governor for the time being.