TOKYO (MNI) - The Bank of Japan is on the public relations offensive again about its achievement since the outbreak of the global financial crisis in late 2008 and the need to be flexible about guiding inflation into a certain range in the long term.

TOKYO (MNI) - Bank of Japan policymakers are now saying their outlook is slightly brighter than before but warned that it is a tough job to beat deflation completely, urging private-sector initiatives to promote demand.

The message behind their latest warning on depressed prices is also aimed at the government: don't count on us to keep buying debt as markets are watching the fate of fiscal consolidation while the economy needs support from both program spending and easy credit.

TOKYO (MNI) - Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa is not entirely happy with the pessimism of the public and policymakers in light of Japan's recovery from the slump and its ability to fight off deflation.

A career central banker with an academic bent, Shirakawa has been trying to explain logically why it is risky to be too focused on recent patterns of consumer price fluctuations or why attention needs to be paid to the danger of asset bubbles building while major economies are still licking wounds inflicted by the burst of the global credit bubble.

TOKYO (MNI) - The Bank of Japan's latest weapon for fighting deflation is targeted at encouraging firms to borrow and invest in innovative areas by reducing interest rates across the board, which the bank hopes will raise the economy's metabolism and eventually boost its potential growth.

BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa calls the new fixed-rate three-month money market operation "effective quantitative easing" at practically a "zero" interest rate by global standards, although he won't bend his belief that the current 0.1% in overnight lending rate is the lowest it

TOKYO (MNI) - Japanese policymakers are trying to prevent deflationary pressure in the economy from causing a downward spiral of price and wage cuts as the country also faces the risk of a sharp yen rise hurting exporter profits.

Government leaders are calling for larger fiscal spending than planned before by extending temporary tax breaks and credits for buying low-emission vehicles while expanding the current reward program for purchases of greener consumer electronics to include equipping homes with solar power and other emission-cutting devices.