# Bank of Japan board turns to preventing an inflation overshoot, its September opinions show > The Summary of Opinions from the 17–18 September meeting says one member called for a shift in policy phase and another said the Bank should accelerate hikes if prices overshoot. Another said there was no need for haste. The Tankan showed large manufacturers' sentiment at +24. - Canonical URL: https://forextradingcommunity.com/news/boj-summary-of-opinions-september-2026-tankan/ - Type: Central banks - Published: 2026-10-05 - Updated: 2026-10-05 - Publisher: Forex Trading Community (https://forextradingcommunity.com), FTC Editorial Team - Currencies: JPY The Bank of Japan published the Summary of Opinions from its 17–18 September Monetary Policy Meeting on 1 October 2026. The meeting raised the policy rate from 1.00% to 1.25% on a 7–2 vote ([report](/news/bank-of-japan-raises-rate-1-25-percent-september-2026/)). The summary does not name members; it records what individual board members and government representatives said. ## A shift in the phase of policy - One opinion: underlying CPI inflation is "now getting closer to 2 percent," so "stabilizing it at a level around 2 percent thus becomes important," and "it is considered that there has been a shift in the phase of monetary policy." - One said the Bank should "demonstrate to the market its determination to prevent upward deviations in prices through a nimble response to overseas economic environments and to price developments." - One said: "If signs of an upward deviation in prices are observed, the Bank will need to accelerate the pace of rate hikes." - One said the Bank should "bring the policy interest rate closer to the approximate goal relatively soon and ensure there is room for nimble adjustment in either direction." - Another said underlying inflation "does not seem to be accelerating at a speed that could lead the Bank to fall behind the curve, so there is no need to take hasty action." ## The case against raising in September Two opinions argued for holding. One said that with year-on-year CPI below 2% and the economy not necessarily strong, "it is desirable for the Bank to maintain the current policy interest rate at this MPM." Another said current developments "do not appear to have substantially accelerated compared to before." The Bank's decision statement of 18 September recorded the same two arguments from the two members who voted against the increase, Asada Toichiro and Sato Ayano, and also that Takata Hajime and Tamura Naoki dissented from the description of the price outlook. The summary itself does not say who made which remark. ## What the government said The Ministry of Finance expected the Bank to explain its intention carefully to the market. The Cabinet Office asked it to "examine carefully the cumulative effects of past policy interest rate hikes" and to take its estimates of the neutral interest rate into consideration. ## The Tankan The Bank's Tankan survey, also published on 1 October, put the business conditions index for large manufacturers at +24 (June: +22), with firms forecasting +21 for December. For large non-manufacturers it was +35 (June: +37), with a forecast of +30. Large manufacturers assumed a dollar-yen rate of 154.23 for fiscal 2026, against 152.57 in June, and companies planned to raise capital spending by 7.6% in fiscal 2026. ## What it means for the yen The opinions point to more increases if inflation holds, and to caution about their pace. Tokyo's September core inflation of 2.7% adds to the case ([report](/news/tokyo-cpi-september-2026-core-2-7-percent/)). [Safe-haven currencies explained](/news/safe-haven-currencies-yen-and-franc/) covers why the yen behaves as it does around such signals. The next meeting is on 29–30 October, with the quarterly Outlook Report. Its Summary of Opinions is due on 10 November. ## Sources - [Bank of Japan: Summary of Opinions at the Monetary Policy Meeting on September 17 and 18, 2026 (1 October 2026)](https://www.boj.or.jp/en/mopo/mpmsche_minu/opinion_2026/opi260918.pdf) - [Bank of Japan: Tankan Outline, September 2026](https://www.boj.or.jp/en/statistics/tk/yoshi/tk2609.htm) - [Bank of Japan: Monetary Policy Meetings, schedule and releases](https://www.boj.or.jp/en/mopo/mpmsche_minu/index.htm) ## Common questions ### What is the Bank of Japan's Summary of Opinions? A document published after each Monetary Policy Meeting that summarises, without names, the opinions of board members and government representatives. The one for 17–18 September 2026 was published on 1 October. ### What did the Bank of Japan board say about future rate hikes? One opinion said that if signs of an upward deviation in prices are observed, the Bank will need to accelerate the pace of rate hikes. Another said there was no need to take hasty action. ### What was the Tankan result in September 2026? The large manufacturers' business conditions index was +24, up from +22 in June, and the large non-manufacturers' index was +35, down from +37. ### What is the Bank of Japan's policy rate? 1.25% after the 17–18 September 2026 meeting, effective 24 September, up from 1.00%. ### When is the next Bank of Japan meeting? 29–30 October 2026, with the Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices published on 30 October. --- This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Trading forex and CFDs carries a high risk of losing money.