SHIBUKAWA, Gunma Pref. — Upon entering Yuko Obuchi's election headquarters here, one notices a poster of her beaming father, the late Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, hanging at the entrance.

Obuchi, 26, and her staff are trying to build on public sympathy over her father's death last month. She aims to win his seat to represent the Gunma Prefecture No. 5 constituency.

"I will succeed my father and engage in politics," Obuchi told supporters when the election campaign officially kicked off last week. "I will devote myself to becoming a politician capable of serving the public."