TOKYO: Japan's opposition-controlled upper house of parliament Wednesday approved the government's nominee, Masaaki Shirakawa, as the next governor of the Bank of Japan, Senate president Satsuki Eda said.

The nomination was approved by 231 votes to seven, Eda said, clearing the way to fill the top slot at the bank, which has been vacant for three weeks.

Shirakawa, a career central banker named as one of two deputy governors last month, has been serving as the acting governor since the top post fell vacant last month for the first time in eight decades.

But a row over the Bank of Japan's top leaders rumbled on as the upper house rejected the government's choice for one of the two deputy governor posts, Hiroshi Watanabe, a former senior finance ministry official.

The candidates must be approved by both houses of parliament. Voting in the lower house, where the ruling party has a comfortable majority, is set for later Wednesday. - AFP/ac

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