Some in BOJ see future room to raise rates, slow asset buying: December minutes

Most of the nine-member board agreed it was appropriate to maintain the BOJ's current "powerful" monetary easing with inflation distant from its 2 percent target, the minutes showed.

But one member said the damage from prolonged monetary easing on commercial banks' profits had been "accumulating," which meant the BOJ must carefully look at both the benefits and demerits of its policy, the minutes showed.

"One member, while noting that there was no marked overheating in the market at this point, said that the effects and side-effects of the BOJ's purchases of risky assets including exchange-traded funds (ETFs) should be examined from every angle," the minutes showed.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chris Gallagher)