5 LDP leadership candidates take to streets in Osaka, Kochi

OSAKA, Sept. 13 Kyodo - The five candidates running in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party presidential election took to the streets in the two western Japanese cities of Osaka and Kochi on Saturday to present their economic and administrative reform policies
to the public.
These were their first street speeches outside Tokyo since Nobuteru Ishihara,
51, Yuriko Koike, 56, Taro Aso, 67, Shigeru Ishiba, 51, and Kaoru Yosano, 70,
filed their candidacies Wednesday for the race to choose a successor to Prime
Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
The general public, however, cannot vote in the LDP leadership election, in
which the candidates will vie for an overall majority from 528 ballots -- 387
from LDP Diet members and 141 from the party's prefectural representatives.
Referring to the widening disparity between urban and rural areas, Aso said,
''The medical and nursing-care sectors must have been badly hit (by the
disparity). It is better to build roads connecting hospitals than to construct
hospitals.''
Koike also took up the issue. ''What I mean when I talk of breaking up
Kasumigaski (center of Japan's bureaucracy) is implementing decentralization of
powers,'' she said, suggesting the government will need to push ahead with
structural reforms.
Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who tried to implement structural
reforms during his tenure, recently voiced his support for Koike as Fukuda's
successor.
By contrast, Ishiba criticized the structural reforms pushed by Koizumi as
having exhausted the countryside. He stressed that Japan must enhance its
agricultural policies to raise the country's food self-sufficiency ratio.
Yosano reiterated the importance of fiscal consolidation through tax reforms,
while Ishihara indicated the government will need to review the policy of
curbing ballooning social security costs.
A large crowd gathered on the street in Osaka in front of the candidates who
appeared on the top of a campaign vehicle.
Among them, Takashi Ogata, 63, from Osaka, said, ''I hope the candidates will
have discussions that can lead Japan into the future,'' and Hiromi Maeno, 33,
from Nagoya, said, ''None of them can show their differences from the others. I
hope the next leader will serve for a long time.''
Both Fukuda and his predecessor Shinzo Abe announced their resignations
abruptly after serving as premier and LDP president for only around a year.
The five candidates will give soapbox speeches at 16 venues, including Osaka,
during the election campaign through Sept. 21, with balloting to take place on
Sept. 22. If no candidate wins an overall majority, a runoff will be held
between the top two candidates.