With Prime Minister Shinzo Abe determined to increase the sales tax next year, the government is testing public reaction to a string of potential measures to ensure people keep spending.
The most recent bump in the levy — from 5 percent to 8 percent in 2014 — underscores the risks to consumption. Spending spiked ahead of the change and then dropped sharply when it took effect, sending the economy into reverse for a quarter and damping inflation for even longer.
Things should turn out better next October, with more exemptions and offsets likely, and the tax to rise by a smaller increment to 10 percent. Below is a guide to plans announced by the government so far, and trial balloons floated via the media: