An official with his Democratic Party of Japan said on Wednesday that Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has reversed course and decided to resign.

Hatoyama was expected to formally announce his decision at an impending general assembly of DPJ lawmakers, Kyodo News has reported.

"I will talk about my feelings at today's meeting of (DPJ) lawmakers in both houses of the Diet," Hatoyama responded, when asked by reporters whether he would stay on as prime minister.

Hatoyama had said a day earlier that he would stay on to help his party in the upcoming upper house elections.

Hatoyama has been facing growing calls from his own party, since rising to power last August, to resign as approval ratings for his Cabinet has sunk below 20 percent.

The DPJ, which leads the coalition government, has a sizable majority in the lower house of parliament but must do well in next month's upper house elections to win approval of bills as the country comes out of its worst post-World War II recession.

It has been also reported that Hatoyama also was under fire for his government's decision allow the relocation of the U. S. Marines' Futenma Air Station to a less-crowded site within Okinawa rather than outside the prefecture as he had pledged in his election campaign. (With Inputs from Agencies)