By Tetsushi Kajimoto

KOFU, Japan (Reuters) - A Bank of Japan policymaker signaled on Wednesday the central bank was open to adopting more measures to support the economy following its emergency meeting the previous day that offered extra short-term funding.

The Bank's governor Masaaki Shirakawa said Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama did not ask him to take additional easing steps when the two met, adding that they shared the same view on deflation.

The BOJ has come under fire from the government to do more to support the economy and avert the risk of another recession ahead of elections next year for parliament's upper house. The BOJ emergency decision on Tuesday to provide short-term funding was seen as a way to relieve that pressure.

Hatoyama, speaking to reporters after the meeting, steered clear of criticizing the BOJ, saying the government and the central bank will work together to end deflation.

But outspoken BOJ critic Shizuki Kamei, the banking minister, was on the offensive earlier, saying he was deeply unhappy with the outcome of the BOJ's meeting.

"The BOJ was sleeping. It woke up a little bit and is still sleepy-headed," said Kamei, the head of a tiny coalition ally who has often attacked the central bank.

Markets also reacted with disappointment on Tuesday and government bonds continued to fall on Wednesday. Investors had been primed for more BOJ bond buying or a return to full quantitative easing -- a policy of flooding banks with cash to stimulate lending -- when the central bank called the meeting.

Instead, the BOJ offered 10 trillion yen ($115 billion) in three-month funds at 0.1 percent, which analysts said might help check a yen rally but would do little to tackle deflation.

Suda said the central bank was open to any policy options if the economy was to undershoot its forecasts, a bone of contention with the government, which considers them to be too optimistic.

"The costs and the benefits (of any policy options) can change depending on the situation in financial markets. We are always open to what the best policy measures are," she said in a speech to business leaders in central Japan.

FURTHER EASING EXPECTED

Shirakawa defended the BOJ's decision on Tuesday by saying it constituted a form of quantitative easing, but analysts said the BOJ may have to do more.

"We could expect further easing sometime in the future, say by the end of the fiscal year," said Satoru Ogasawara, an economist at Credit Suisse in Tokyo.

"The BOJ's new market operation may help financing toward the year-end, but it may be difficult to push up the economy and inflation expectations."