At Ueda’s first policy meeting last month, board members discussed “patiently” maintaining easing, according to a summary of opinions released by the central bank Thursday. 

“Patiently” implies waiting for a condition to be fulfilled and contrasts with the previous wording of “persistently” keeping up with easing, a word that was used up until the March meeting, when the BOJ was still led by Ueda’s predecessor Haruhiko Kuroda.

Given that the original Japanese word remained unchanged, the change in English doesn’t suggest a major shift. It does however hint at Ueda’s intention of signaling a gradual move away from the Kuroda era. Some economists suggest that the change acknowledges a shift in Japan’s economic reality. 

Eoin Treacy's view

Now that Japan has successfully got the inflation pressures they have chased for so long, they are not about to squander the opportunity to break the deflationary culture. The only way to end the deflationary spiral will be to force people to accelerate purchases by instilling fear they will end up paying more later. That’s not a quick process.