Even after the BOJ ends the quantitative easing, it's possible for monetary policy to remain very easy as long as inflationary pressure is kept in check while the economy continues to recover, Mizuno said. Such an environment would still help support the government's restructuring efforts, he said. Moreover, the BOJ would lose the flexibility to adjust monetary policy if it maintains the quantitative easing simply to achieve government reforms, Mizuno said. Mizuno said Japan's employment and economic outlook are two important factors for the BOJ to judge whether or not Japan remains in deflation. The central bank has said it would maintain the ultra-easy policy until three requirements are fulfilled: steady on-year growth of the core CPI, confidence among board members that deflation will not return, and a stable economic situation that is conducive to a policy change. "In order to gauge a trend in prices, employment-related data and the economic outlook in particular are important," Mizuno said. "The fact that the amount of bonuses is clearly in an uptrend, at least at major companies, may lessen concerns about deflation among households."