With his political capital waning, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe looks set to move further toward populist policies to boost support for his leadership and new Cabinet.
With deflation still dragging on the economy and Abe's ratings plummeting, the prime minister is widely expected to fall back to his rhetoric on Abenomics, a policy mix of radical monetary easing, fiscal spending and vows of structural reforms that a growing number of economists have begun to question.
Abe has also put priority on making preschool and day care services free, despite no clear source of funding, and promoting labor reform in a culture with deeply rooted practices that glorify overwork.