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post: HIMINO PLANS TO RAISE RATES IF ECONOMIC OUTLOOK IS REALIZED post: BOJ'S HIMINO: AS FOR NEAR-TERM POLICY GUIDANCE, WE NEED TO LOOK CLOSELY AT SHORT-TERM ECONOMIC, PRICE AND FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENTS post: BOJ DEPUTY GOVERNOR HIMINO: INFLATION EXPECTATION RISES FROM BELOW 1% TO AROUND 1.5% post: BOJ'S HIMINO REPORTS STRONG WAGE OUTLOOK FROM REGIONAL BRANCH MANAGERSHimino: Japan's Economy and Monetary Policy- Speech at a Meeting with Local Leaders in Kanagawa Thank you for joining us today. Thank you also for your support for the Bank of Japan and its Yokohama Branch. In 1853, awakened by the blasts of canons which Commodore Perry’s fleet fired near Uraga, Japan started the process of modernization, opening the port of Yokohama and its window to the world. Yokohama was at the forefront of Japan's drive for "civilization and enlightenment," building steel mills, laying down railroads, and installing gas lamps. Since then, the Japanese economy has surprised the world with two miracles and has retreated from these miracles as a result of two major setbacks (Chart 1). The first miracle was the modernization achieved for the first time in the non-Western world. Within only half a century, a small agricultural nation on the eastern edge of Asia became one of the world's five major powers. However, this achievement was reduced to ashes by World War II. The central area of Yokohama city, for example, was razed to the ground in a major air raid on May 29, 1945. The second miracle was Japan's subsequent post-war reconstruction and rapid economic growth, and the industrial zone between Tokyo and Yokohama played a central role in this.