Analysis:BOJ's rate-hike path runs into Takaichi's bond market problems

TOKYO, Aug 10 : The Bank of Japan may be edging toward an early rate hike, but it faces a growing risk that any move to tighten policy will be offset by mounting political pressure to support the bond market.As government spending plans drive yields higher, the BOJ is being drawn into an increasingly awkward battle to defend its push to normalize policy and resist calls to resume the very bond-buying it is trying to unwind.Concern over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's expansive fiscal agenda has pushed Japanese government bond yields higher, raising borrowing costs for a country with the developed world's heaviest debt burden and drawing the ire of Washington over spillovers into U.S. Treasury markets.Mindful of the impact rising yields could have on Japan's debt-servicing costs, Takaichi p