"One rate hike won't stem the currency's decline," said Tetsuhisa Hayashi, chief currency trader in Tokyo at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, a unit of Japan's largest lender by assets.
"The next rate hike will probably be after August, as we have the Upper House elections in July," Hayashi said.
A top government spokesman responded to the BoJ's decision to raise interest rates, calling the move "appropriate."
"As I understand it, discussions were held at the BoJ, and they reached an appropriate decision," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki, a former official at the BoJ.
Shiozaki said that the one dissenting vote by Iwata against the quarter-point rate rise to 0.5 percent was a reflection of healthy debate by the central bank's monetary policy board.
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