BOJ on course to retreat from radical stimulus - ex-BOJ Kiuchi

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's central bank is already in the process of winding down its radical monetary policy and may also look at making changes to its long-term interest rate target in the near future, former board member Takahide Kiuchi said on Monday.

"The Bank of Japan has already begun normalising policy since it shifted to yield curve control last year, and that's the direction the bank seems to heading," he told Reuters.

With inflation still subdued despite years of ultra-loose policy, the BOJ could re-define its inflation target to a more flexible one aimed over a longer timeframe, said Kiuchi, who is now executive economist at Nomura Research Institute.

The BOJ may also switch its long-term interest rate target to one targeting three- or five-year yields from the 10-year yield, as the shorter end of the curve is easier to control with fewer bond purchases, he added.

Kiuchi, who finished up his tenure as board member in July, was a sole proponent of tapering the BOJ's asset purchases and long warned of the pitfalls of Kuroda's monetary experiment.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara and Sumio Ito; Editing by Sam Holmes)