Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda vowed on Sunday to continue with social security and tax reforms as an effort to shore up the country's economy.

Noda said in a New Year address that the country must improve its sustainability of the social security system and cope with the challenges in the process of fiscal rehabilitation and economic growth.

Japan's ruling Democratic Party approved on Thursday an altered plan for a consumption hike in the country. It decided to raise the country's politically sensitive consumption tax starting in 2014 instead of the initial 2013. The consumption tax rate will be doubled in two phases to 10 percent by 2015.

But a latest poll carried out by local media showed about fifty-eight percent of those surveyed are against the move.

The poll by Tokyo Shimbun daily revealed on Sunday that the respondents opposed to the tax hike plan are worried about the increased burden on the groups like people of low incomes, against the backdrop of the rising yen and the debt crisis in Europe.