When it introduced the zero interest rate policy in 1999, the Bank explicitly committed to continuing with the zero interest rate policy "until deflationary concern is dispelled." I regard this as the first application of forward guidance in practice worldwide.
Moreover, in the period of QE from 2001 to 2006, the Bank committed to continuing with QE "until the annual rate of change in the CPI registers zero percent or above in a stable manner." However, these policies were insufficient to overcome deflation.