ING Research previews today's BoJ meeting.

"As to the decision, anything other than an unchanged 1.00% policy rate would be a surprise. There could be some interest in the voting patterns. Governor Kazuo Ueda is expected to return after a recent illness, bringing the Policy Board back to nine," ING notes.

"The focus will be on whether any of the board members will vote for back-to-back hikes. Kajime Nakata did so in January this year and could be a candidate to do so again this week. A bigger surprise would be whether the other two hawks, Junko Nakagawa and Naoki Tamura, join him," ING adds.