For an incoming central bank boss, Kazuo Ueda confronts a challenge rare in modern Japanese economics: Acknowledge climbing inflation warrants a break from business as usual without scaring people that an increase in interest rates is imminent.

This will require more than the usual needle-threading beloved of policymakers the world over.

The first draft of Ueda’s response came Friday when the new Bank of Japan chief began distancing himself from some of the easing preferences of his predecessor. In Ueda’s first meeting as governor, officials dropped pandemic-era guidance that the main interest rate — already negative — could go lower still. And he initiated a review of much of the BOJ’s actions since the late 1990s, when the bank’s independence was in its infancy. This means that Japan and the world should get a decent heads up on any significant departure from the status quo.

Retiring forward guidance on the benchmark rate created some excitement even before the BOJ statement arrived, with a leak published in the Nikkei newspaper flagging the prospect of a shift in how the bank would describe the trajectory for borrowing costs. That story initially pushed the yen higher. A later-than-customary end to the conclave also set hearts aflutter. Markets will need to learn how to dance with a new monetary boss. His rhythms and cadences will be different from Haruhiko Kuroda’s, even if the institution doesn’t charge off in a very different direction. The new guy has spent much of his career in academia. Kuroda was a veteran civil servant, steeped in bureaucratic intrigue.

For now, the rate remains just a touch below zero, where it has been since. The bank will also continue holding the yield on 10-year government bonds near zero. While the bank no longer says the key rate could go further south, officials did note they were ready to ease their stance without hesitation if needed. With the review likely to take 18 months to report, easy money looks set to dominate the world’s third-largest economy well into 2024.

In a news conference, Ueda was careful not to rule out policy moves before then and said findings will be released in dribs and drabs. It makes sense to give himself a bit of wiggle room. He did, nonetheless, sound like a person striving to say and do little to stir up concern. The yen surrendered early gains to weaken through Friday afternoon and Japanese stocks rallied.

A lot can happen in the global economy over that period. It took until March 2022 for the Federal Reserve to begin hiking rates, a tightening campaign that developed rapidly. Fed Chair Jerome Powell only stopped describing inflation as "transitory” late the previous year. Might inflation in Japan force Ueda to rein in the economy before the evaluation lands on his desk? Hours before the bank’s decision, the government reported that a key measure of consumer prices in Tokyo rose 3.5% in April, faster than economists predicted, and well above the central bank’s 2% target.

While price pressures grate on a citizenry long accustomed to them stagnating or falling, the central bank doesn’t see them as a permanent fixture. Inflation will return to below its comfort zone, but without dropping too far, according to forecasts released Friday. Compared with counterparts in the U.S., Europe and even many emerging markets, the BOJ is still firmly in the dovish camp. Little steps can seem like a big deal when the past couple of decades could be characterized as a fight against deflation and you are a pioneer of quantitative easing and zero rates.

Ueda has reason for caution. After the thrills and spills of the Kuroda era, he can afford to ease his way into the job. Critically, he chose not to rock the boat too much at the start of his five-year term. Kuroda didn’t have that luxury or inclination. In early 2013, Japan was mired in a deep economic funk. He had a mandate for change and pursued it immediately.

Ueda has ascended in less exciting times. One version of normal may be here already. We will have to wait for the rest.

Daniel Moss is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian economies.