A Reuters story today (“Kuroda Sprang Easing Surprise to Head Off Damaging Inflation Forecast”) suggested that the move by the BOJ was a rapid and expedient effort by Governor Kuroda to prevent the markets from believing that the previous Japanese actions to “ignite” inflation had been a failure. The BOJ had been trying to target 2 percent inflation but the recent fall in oil and energy prices was placing downward pressures on inflation, calling into question previous attempts by the Japanese authorities to raise inflation expectations.