The ruling and opposition parties are making a priority of improving the country's preparedness for natural disasters as Japan gears up for the Lower House election next month.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe kicked off his stump tour in Iwate Prefecture on Wednesday, and talked with residents still living in temporary housing more than 3½ years after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami wreaked havoc on the prefecture.

"I believe there are emerging signs of progress," Abe told a group of evacuees in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture. "I will work to make sure people can go back to where they were (before the earthquake) as much as possible."