In his New Year's address Tuesday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to expeditiously take measures to revive the economy and rebuild Japan's foreign policy.
Abe said Japan is now "in a critical state" due to prolonged deflation, territorial disputes with its neighbors and slow progress in postdisaster reconstruction.
"The mission assigned to the Abe government is to break through the crisis and put the nation's economy, education and foreign policy back on a recovery track as a way of regaining people's confidence in their lives," said Abe.