Moreover, the yields on government bonds have been much lower in Japan from the mid-1990s onward than they were in the United States of the 1930s. Thus, we can infer that the quantitative easing policy was one of the most decisive policy challenges for central banks from a historical perspective.
In retrospect, Japan's economy finally started recovering in January 2002 after the strenuous efforts by firms and banks to resolve their problems that I have mentioned. As an aside, it was on March 20, 2003 that I assumed the office of Governor. At that time, the fact that Japan's economy had already started recovering was beyond my widest dreams.