Hayami, who shepherded Japan through crisis of late '90s, dies at 84

Masaru Hayami, the Bank of Japan governor who added "quantitative easing" to the arsenal of policymakers, has died at the age of 84.

Hayami, who headed the bank from 1998 to 2003, died of respiratory failure on May 16 at 4:19 am in Tokyo, the central bank said yesterday.

Under his stewardship, the bank cut its overnight lending rate to zero in 1999 to spur growth and stop deflation. He also introduced quantitative easing for the first time in a modern history for a major central bank.