He won his first National Diet seat in the Upper House in 2001 with the largest number of ballots in the national proportional representation section of the House of Councilors. His main election promise was to change the Bank of Japan's policies by reforming the Bank of Japan Law. However, in May 2001 the book "Princes of the Yen" () on the Bank of Japan, by Richard Werner, became a number one general bestseller, and Masuzoe agreed with its conclusion that to end the recession and avoid future banking disasters and credit-driven boom-bust cycles, the Bank of Japan Law had to change to make the central bank more accountable for its policies. Masuzoe won with a landslide victory – presaging the same platform, policy recommendation and landslide victory enjoyed by Shinzō Abe in the election that was to make him prime minister in late 2012. After his victory in 2001, Masuzoe duly formed the LDP BoJ Law Reform Group and appointed Professor Werner as its advisor. It included the members of the Lower House Yoshimi Watanabe and Kozo Yamamoto, among others.