The leaders of Japan's major political parties have faced off in a Tokyo debate.
This event comes a day before the official campaign for this month's general election gets underway. Each side expanded on their policy plans during the showdown.
With Taro Aso's Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, flagging in the polls and facing a loss for the first time in years ... Yukio Hatoyama's opposition Democratic Party of Japan, or DPJ, is seen as having a good chance to take power.
Prime Minister Aso was quick to seize on Monday's positive news indicating renewed Japanese economic production.
Taro Aso, Japan's PM & LDP Leader, said, "The economic figures that were released today show growth for the first time in a-year-and-three-months. People have yet to feel the recovery for themselves, though. We're still in the process. The economy is the most important issue. I vow to revive Japan's economy."
The DPJ responded by repeating its' call for change in the government, vowing to cut wasteful spending and break away from the policies of the LDP.
Yukio Hatoyama, DPL Chief, said, "I hope to receive your support to change the government, not for our party's sake, but for your livelihood, and for the future. Won't you please, together, change Japan."
With less than two weeks until the general election that will determine who heads up the world's second largest economy, all parties are stepping up their campaigns.
An victory by the opposition would end more than five decades of almost-uninterrupted rule by the LDP.
(CCTV August 18, 2009)
