Veteran lawmakers Ichiro Ozawa and Naoto Kan announced their candidacies Wednesday evening for the presidency of the struggling Democratic Party of Japan.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='250' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='../images/photos2006/nn20060406a2a.jpg' WIDTH='250' HEIGHT='277'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>Ichiro Ozawa –

and Naoto Kan face reporters separately in Tokyo.

News photo

Ozawa, 63, a former Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight with a reputation for backroom dealing, and Kan, 59, two-time DPJ president and ex-health minister, held separate news conferences to announce they would run in Friday's presidential poll.