Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida explains pillars of a new economic package at the prime minister's office on Sept. 25. (The Asahi Shimbun)

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida unveiled on Monday the pillars of a new economic stimulus package to be compiled next month to help households ease the pain of price hikes and boost wages.

Kishida will instruct his Cabinet on Tuesday to put together the package and swiftly set up an extra budget to fund it, he said.

It will include measures to protect people from cost-push inflation, back sustainable wage and income growth, promote domestic investment to spur growth, reform to overcome dwindling populations, and encourage infrastructure investment.

With the new economic measures, Kishida pledged to shift Japan's economy, which has tended to focus on cost cutting, away from such practices.

Kishida also warned investors trying to sell off the yen, which will boost import bills for food and energy, saying he was closely watching currency moves with a high sense of urgency.

"It's important for currencies to move stably reflecting fundamentals," Kishida said in his rare remarks on the foreign exchange market. "Excessive volatility is undesirable."

Details and the size of the package were yet to be announced, triggering opposition lawmakers to criticize Kishida for using the package to lure voter support ahead of a suspected snap election.

Kishida's announcement Monday also comes as media surveys showed his recent Cabinet reshuffle has largely failed to buoy his dwindling support ratings.

According to media surveys conducted days after the Sept. 13 Cabinet renewal, support ratings remained flat at around 30 percent, exceeded by disapproval of around 50 percent. The majority of the respondents said they did not give credit to the reshuffle, believing it to be Kishida's effort to balance power among factions within his governing party, rather than trying to improve government policies. They saw it as a move to solidify his grip on power ahead of his party leadership vote next year.

Voters initially welcomed appointments of five women into his 19-member Cabinet, part of his attempt to buoy sagging support ratings for his previous male-dominated Cabinet, which had only two women. The five females match the number in two earlier Japanese Cabinets — in 2014 and 2001.

But the praise evaporated quickly when people found out that none of the 54 posts for vice-ministers and other special advisory posts went to women.

Kishida also came under fire over his remarks about the appointment of the five women to the Cabinet. He said he expected them to “fully demonstrate their sensitivity and empathy that are unique to women.”

That triggered a backlash from women's rights activists, academics and opposition lawmakers. The phrase trended on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, with many users criticizing it as biased, outdated and asking if there is any such thing as uniquely female sensitivity.

Kishida later defended himself by saying he meant to stress the importance of diversity in policy making and that he wanted to convey his hope the female ministers will fully express their personality and capability on the job.

When asked about the chance of dissolving parliament's Lower House to call a snap election, Kishida said he was not thinking about such an option as he must now focus on the new stimulus and other issues that cannot wait.

“Right now, I'm not thinking about anything beyond that,” he said.

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