The Bank of Japan is widely expected to raise its policy rate from 1% to 1.25% on Friday, continuing quarter-point increases roughly every six months. The move comes as former architects of Japan’s decade-long low-rate strategy argue that conditions have changed: inflation has stayed above the central bank’s 2% target for most of the past four years, while the yen has fallen to multidecade lows against the dollar. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has continued to support Abenomics, the strategy championed by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, alongside record fiscal spending and pressure for low borrowing costs. Koichi Hamada, a former top aide to Abe and a key Abenomics adviser, now supports tighter monetary policy and says the central bank should move faster.