Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda planned to reshuffle his cabinet on Friday as part of efforts to pursue his policy goal of raising the country's sales tax rate, lawmakers of Noda's ruling DPJ party said on Thursday.

Though in a small scale, the cabinet reshuffle is seen as a way to push forward discussions with the opposition over Noda's proposal to raise the nation's 5 percent sales tax rate in two stages, to 8 percent in April 2014 and 10 percent in October 2015.

The prime minister is seeking ally from opposition parties in a divided Diet where the DPJ lacks a majority in the upper house. He is expected to replace defense minister Yasuo Ichikawa and consumer affairs minister Kenji Yamaoka, who were both censured in the upper house last month.

Noda has vowed to submit a bill to increase the tax rate to parliament by the end of March, but the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party and other opposition parties have expressed a readiness to boycott deliberations unless the two ministers are sacked.