SERVICES

E-MAIL SERVICES
CNN MOBILE
CNN AVANT GO
DESKTOP TICKER
ABOUT US
AD INFO

CNN TV

what's on
biz international
inside sailing
the music room
show transcripts
how to get CNN TV
anchors/reporters
bureaux
CNN Partner Hotels

EDITIONS

CNN.com U.S.
CNN.com Asia
CNNArabic.com
CNNEspañol.com
set your edition

Japan PM candidates take to streets

In this story:

Loudspeaker addresses

Largest faction

RELATED STORIES, SITES

TOKYO, Japan -- A favorite emerged as television talk shows became the weapon of choice for Japan's prime ministerial candidates on Sunday.

The four men, competing to lead the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and hence become the next prime minister, went on show for Japanese audiences before testing their appeal in the streets.

IN-DEPTH

Mori's difficult decision


•	Q & A: Who will replace Mori?
•	Japan: A nation in crisis
•	Japan: What needs to change?
•	Profile of Mori

"I don't really have an opinion yet on any of them, but it doesn't really matter I guess," said a 50-year-old company worker as he watched them delivering speeches in the fashionable Shinjuku shopping district.

"It's not really a democratic way of doing things."

The public will have no say when 346 lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its regional chapters vote on April 24 for a new party president to replace unpopular Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, effectively picking the country's next leader.

The four candidates are eccentric reformer and former Health Minister Junichiro Koizumi, former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, Economics Minister Taro Aso and Shizuka Kamei, the conservative LDP policy chief.

Koizumi, 59, the runaway favorite in opinion polls, drew one of the few responses from the crowd, who cheered when he called for an end to the party's faction-dominated power politics.

"That's why I am running, because I want to change the party," Koizumi said. "If you want to change things, support me, and I will fight with all my strength."

"I support Koizumi," said a Tokyo fitness instructor in her 20s. "We have to get rid of all the old men up there."

Loudspeaker addresses

Standing on a platform on top of a van, the four candidates addressed the crowd outside the huge Shinjuku station through loudspeakers. Four white banners with the name of each candidate hung down in front of the makeshift stage.

"I want Koizumi. We need someone with a new way of thinking who is going to come in and change things because there are a lot of problems in our country," said student Mizue Higashi, 20.

Koizumi is regularly placed near the top in opinion polls due to his reputation as an outspoken outsider and reformer in a country teetering on the brink of recession. He won an overwhelming 65 percent in a TV Asahi poll at the weekend.

But not all the Sunday shoppers were so keen.

"I think Koizumi is a bit scary. He always seems angry about something," said 22-year-old part-time worker Naoko Adachi of the politician whose passionate oratory puts off many accustomed to a Japanese etiquette that emphasises politeness.

Largest faction

Koizumi has failed twice in LDP presidency elections and many expect the leading establishment candidate, Hashimoto, 63, to win this time.

Hashimoto, who heads the largest faction in the multi-group LDP, used the occasion to tell the crowd of several hundred that he repented for mistakes during his 1996-98 administration.

"I don't really understand Hashimoto's policies and he's already failed once," said Yoshio Adachi, in his 30s.

Hashimoto's 1997 decision to raise consumption tax has been blamed for snuffing out a nascent economic recovery.

Many in the crowd shared a feeling that Japan needed someone to shake the nation out of its economic malaise and held out little hope from any of the four contenders on the van.

Others, however, felt people were looking in the wrong place if they wanted a leader able to turn Japan around.

"People always put too much hope in politicians and then are disappointed," said Tomoko Funahara, a sales consultant in her 20s.

"If you want things to improve, you shouldn't look to the people up there. We have to do it ourselves, on an individual level, person by person."

Reuters contributed to this report.