TOKYO, April 8 (Xinhua) -- Masaaki Shirakawa, nominee for governor of Bank of Japan (BOJ), on Tuesday pledged to fulfill the duties as BOJ chief, while urging an early end to its leadership vacuum.

    Addressing the House of Representatives, Shirakawa said that the issue of the leadership vacuum must be resolved swiftly.

    "I would dedicate myself to fulfilling my job," said Shirakawa, who is currently acting BOJ governor and one of two deputies.

    At the same hearing in the lower house, Hiroshi Watanabe, nominee for deputy governor to succeed Shirakawa, said it is of vital importance for Japan's central bank to cooperate closely with central banks of other major economies at a time of global financial turbulence.

    The House of Representatives is set to approve both nominations as Fukuda's ruling camp commands a majority in the lower chamber.

    But whether the nomination of Watanabe will be approved by the opposition-led upper house is left hanging in midair as Ichiro Ozawa, president of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), has indicated opposition to his appointment as a deputy governor.

    The post of the BOJ governor has fallen vacant for the first time in Japan since the end of World War II as the opposition-dominated upper house of the Diet imposed a second veto against the government's nomination of Koji Tanami on March 19 following its rejection of Toshiro Muto a week ago due to the row between the ruling and opposition camps.