FACTBOX-Profiles of Bank of Japan policy board members

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March 15 (Reuters) - Following are profiles of the Bank of Japan's policy board members and two government nominees, one of whom will start attending meetings of the nine-member board next month and the other who will do so after approval by parliament.

MASAAKI SHIRAKAWA, 60, governor

A career central banker who took the helm of the BOJ in April 2008, Shirakawa has led the implementation of unconventional policy steps including corporate debt buying in the wake of the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers later that year.

The BOJ has unwound its corporate debt buying programme as Japan emerges from recession, but Shirakawa has vowed to keep interest rates very easy to support a fragile recovery.

He has said there is little the BOJ can do further to beat deflation, which he said was driven by weak demand. He has also emphasised the drawbacks of keeping monetary conditions too easy, such as making banks too reliant on the BOJ for funds.

Despite such tough talk, Shirakawa has shown flexibility., adopting a new fund-supply tool at an emergency meeting in December partly to keep yen gains from hurting the economy.

HIROHIDE YAMAGUCHI, 59, deputy governor

A central banker for more than 30 years, Yamaguchi was a BOJ executive director when he was appointed to his current post in October 2008.

Yamaguchi, whose views are thought to be close to those of Shirakawa, has mostly toed the BOJ's official line on monetary policy. He is regarded as mainly in charge of communicating the BOJ's view to the government and ruling party lawmakers.

He said in February that the BOJ was ready to act on deflation and warned that price falls were not slowing as fast as expected, leaving room for further monetary easing. [ID:nTOE61N02B][ID:nTOE61N045]

KIYOHIKO NISHIMURA, 56, deputy governor

A former professor at the University of Tokyo and a statistics expert, Nishimura joined the BOJ board in 2005 and was appointed a deputy governor in March 2008.

Nishimura has voted with the majority on policy decisions and mostly toed the bank's official line on policy.

He warned in October that the risks facing Japan's economy remain high, indicating his view that the central bank must stick to its easy monetary policy for now. [ID:nT241598]

HIDETOSHI KAMEZAKI, 66

Kamezaki, a former senior executive vice president of Japan's biggest trading firm, Mitsubishi Corp, joined the board in April 2007. He has broad overseas experience at the trading house.

He was among four dissenters when the BOJ cut rates to 0.3 percent in October 2008, calling instead for a cut to 0.25 percent. He has voted with the board and toed the BOJ's official line since then.

In June 2009, Kamezaki warned that the waves of government debt being issued around the world to fund stimulus measures could push up interest rates. He is due to speak to business leaders in Kochi, western Japan, on March 25. [ID:nT144918]

SEIJI NAKAMURA, 67

Nakamura, who joined the board in April 2007, was formerly head of a unit of Japanese ocean freight firm Mitsui OSK Lines. His worked mostly in the finance and planning sections.

Nakamura said in early February that pumping liquidity into the financial system alone would not put an end to debilitating price falls, a view shared by most BOJ officials. [ID:nTOE61302D]

He dissented when the BOJ cut rates to 0.3 percent in October 2008, favouring instead a cut to 0.25 percent. He has followed the BOJ's official line since then.

MIYAKO SUDA, 61

A former economics professor, Suda was reappointed for a second term in April 2006 and is the longest-sitting member of the current board.

She was the sole opponent of the BOJ's decision in January last year to buy corporate bonds maturing within a year, arguing that such a step would do little to ease credit strains.

While she has voted in favour of most monetary easing steps since the global financial crisis, Suda has repeatedly warned of the drawbacks of keeping policy loose for too long and has stressed the need for structural reform to achieve growth.

On March 10 she said targeting high inflation would not be effective in dealing with the shock caused by the global financial crisis. [ID:nTKF106886]

TADAO NODA, 63

A banking industry veteran who joined the board in June 2006, Noda was the sole dissenter when the BOJ cut interest rates to 0.1 percent in December 2008, arguing that pushing down rates that low could distort market functions.

He has voted with the majority of the board since then and supported the adoption of unconventional steps taken during the global financial crisis.

Noda this month ruled out the need for additional monetary easing on the view the economy and prices were moving in line with BOJ forecasts.

But he added that with demand weak, he was focusing on pushing down money market rates with longer durations as they affect corporate and household borrowing costs. [ID:nTOE622303U]

RYUZO MIYAO, 45 (To begin attending board meetings in April)

A lifelong academic and an expert on monetary policy, Miyao is a professor at Kobe University in western Japan.

His views are thought to be close to the bank's thinking, though little is known about how he sees recent BOJ policies.

He said in May that the BOJ needs to set a cap, as it does now, on the amount of government bonds it can purchase from the market to fend off calls for it to absorb debt without limit.

Miyao, whose nomination was approved by parliament in early December, will take up the post left by Atsushi Mizuno. He has researched inflation targeting and some analysts say he doubts the effectiveness of such a policy. [ID:nT259620]

YOSHIHISA MORIMOTO, 65 (Nomination awaits parliamentary approval)

Morimoto, an executive at Japan's largest electric power company, was named on Friday as nominee to fill the final vacancy on the board. He is expected to do so on July 1, taking up the post Nishimura left when he moved from being a board member to deputy governor.

Little is known about Morimoto's views on monetary policy, but his lack of experience in the area means he will likely vote with the majority of the board at least in the near term, analysts say.

The government said his experience in the business community will help diversify debate at the board, but some market players believe his lack of market experience could limit his contribution to policy debate. [ID:nTOE62B03Q] (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto and Leika Kihara; Editing by Michael Watson)