Kishida Fumio’s “new capitalism” is many things, but it is not new

THE PHRASE “new capitalism” may not arouse as much passion as “down with capitalism”, but it would at the very least seem to promise—the clue is in the name—a fresh approach. When Kishida Fumio first used the phrase last year in his campaign to lead Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and thus the country, its meaning was still unclear. “Ask me in a few months—we’re supposed to figure it out,” one of the members of Mr Kishida’s New Capitalism Realisation Council replied when Banyan made discreet inquiries in October.