Amid a politically eventful year, calls are growing within the government and ruling parties to compile stimulus steps to gird the flagging economy ahead of a key summit and the Upper House election.
Though doing so would go against the nation's efforts to heal itself fiscally, a pledge by Group of 20 economies to "use fiscal policy flexibly" is likely to be cited in support of stimulus at a time when global growth is weighed down by recent market turmoil.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said in the run-up to a Japan-hosted Group of Seven summit in May that he will launch talks with experts from home and abroad to analyze the world economy and study ways to stabilize financial markets.