Editorial: Hayami's mixed legacy at BOJ.

It has been learned the 76-year-old Bank of Japan Gov. Masaru Hayami, reportedly citing declining health due to old age, told then Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and others in March that he wanted to step down from the central bank's top position.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will probably make a final decision about whether he will accept Hayami's resignation in early May after the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors, including Hayami, wind up a meeting that opens at the end of the week.

Hayami was named to the central bank's governorship to replace Yasuo Matsushita, who had stepped down to take responsibility for a …