UPDATE 1-BOJ Suda signals may call for ending unorthodox steps

* BOJ hawk says role of corporate fund-support measures fading * Says should not underestimate drawbacks of special measures * Other BOJ policymakers seen cautious on ending the measures

Nagasaki, JAPAN, Sept 9 - Bank of Japan board member Miyako Suda said the role of the bank's special measures aimed at easing credit strains was lessening as corporate financing improves, suggesting she may favour letting the measures expire in December.

Many other board members appear cautious about letting the BOJ's commercial paper and corporate bond purchasing programmes expire due to lingering doubts over the economic outlook, but Suda said leaving them in place could also pose problems.

"We should not underestimate the drawbacks of the unconventional measures," Suda said in a speech to business leaders in Nagasaki, southern Japan, on Wednesday.

Suda, seen as holding hawkish views on monetary policy, said Japan's economy was steadily heading towards a pick-up but added that the outlook remained highly uncertain as growth was driven largely by exports and government stimulus measures.

"Regardless of whether the unconventional steps are ended or extended, it's necessary to maintain sufficiently easy monetary conditions for now," she said.

In July, the BOJ board voted unanimously to keep buying commercial paper and corporate bonds from banks and continue providing long-term loans to banks at 0.1 percent interest, extending until December the measures it introduced to deal with a crunch in credit markets.

But the three-month extension was shorter than the six months markets had expected, as credit market conditions have been on the mend after being hit severely by the global financial crisis triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September.

Many market players expect the bank to extend the programmes beyond their current expiry date in December, and keep interest rates at 0.1 percent at least until March 2011.

Suda, a former economics professor, was the sole opponent of the BOJ's decision in January to buy corporate bonds from banks, arguing that such a step would do little to ease credit strains brought about by the global financial crisis.