Kishida LDP — 'new form of capitalism' (Atarashii Shihon-shugi)

Doctrine — stated goals and content

'New form of capitalism' (新しい資本主義 / Atarashii Shihon-shugi) positioned as an LDP-moderate (Kōchi-kai faction) rebalancing of Abenomics — the stated virtuous cycle of growth plus distribution, emphasising wage rises, household investment, and IRA-style green and economic-security industrial policy on top of continued monetary accommodation. Left-right axis: LDP centre-right but fiscally activist and redistributive by Western standards — core content reads as moderate statist-developmentalist rather than classical-liberal. Key policy content: (i) Bank of Japan yield-curve- control exit under new Governor Kazuo Ueda, culminating in the March 2024 lift of negative interest rate policy (first rate hike since 2007) and formal end of YCC, followed by the July 2024 hike to 0.25%; (ii) NISA reform effective January 2024 — permanent tax-free individual investment account with annual limits raised to ¥3.6m and lifetime cap ¥18m, framed as shift "from savings to investment" for households; (iii) three-year defence build-up plan adopted December 2022 in the National Security Strategy, committing to roughly doubling defence spending to 2% of GDP by fiscal 2027 with ¥43tn envelope, funded in part by tobacco, corporate, and reconstruction surtaxes; (iv) Green Transformation (GX) policy framework with ¥20tn of GX Transition Bonds issued from February 2024 to seed a ¥150tn public- private green-investment plan, plus carbon-pricing surcharge on fossil- fuel importers (from 2028) and emissions-trading system from 2026; (v) economic-security legislation (May 2022) covering critical supply chains, infrastructure screening, patent secrecy, and chip-sector subsidies to TSMC Kumamoto and Rapidus; (vi) repeated deferrals of any consumption-tax hike, plus one-off income-tax and resident-tax rebate of ¥40,000 per person enacted June 2024; (vii) LDP slush-fund scandal response — dissolution of the Abe, Nikai, and Kishida factions in January 2024 and a party-discipline purge. Popularity trajectory: approval ~60% at inauguration, fell below 30% through 2023-24 on inflation and slush-fund scandal; Kishida declined to contest the September 2024 LDP leadership. Coherence line: post-Abe LDP moderate redistribution plus security-hawk defence doubling plus monetary- normalisation handover — 'distribution + defence + normalisation'.