The leaders of the country's major political parties have called for renewed efforts to speed up reconstruction in disaster-hit Fukushima Prefecture, as election campaigning got underway in earnest.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and main opposition Democratic Party of Japan leader Banri Kaieda both chose Fukushima — devastated by the triple-meltdown disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 power plant — as the location for their first stump speeches on Tuesday.

Abe pledged to "accelerate reconstruction," and defended his government's record in the prefecture, saying that many jobs had been created since the 2011 disaster.