Two weeks after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision to dissolve the Lower House and call a snap election, campaigning has officially kicked off with more than 1,000 candidates vying for the 475 seats in the Diet's lower chamber.

The Dec. 14 general election will be the first national poll since December 2012, when the then-ruling Democratic Party of Japan suffered a staggering defeat at the hands of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which has been at the helm of government for most of the postwar era.

The opposition parties, the DPJ among them, hope to increase their presence in the House of Representatives, which is now 70 percent dominated by the LDP-Komeito ruling coalition.