The Democratic Party of Japan, favored in polls to win next month's election, plans to trim Prime Minister Taro Aso's ¥15.4 trillion stimulus by eliminating "wasteful" projects such as a museum dedicated to pop culture.

Aso's spending plan includes ¥11.7 billion to build a hall showcasing "manga" comic books, ¥12.4 billion to clean up dumped fishing equipment and ¥400 million to fell trees. The pork-barrel approach diverges from former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's pledge to cut spending and contain the world's largest public debt.

"The stimulus has meaningless and wasteful things like the manga palace," DPJ deputy policy chief Tetsuro Fukuyama said in an interview at his office in Tokyo. "We must consider submitting a bill to cut some of this from the budget once we come to power."

The DPJ leads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in polls ahead of the Aug. 30 Lower House election. The party, which has never held power, is planning to shift tax money from public works spending to strengthen social security as Japan tries to emerge from its worst recession since World War II, Fukuyama said.

The party will also cancel Aso's budget ceiling of almost ¥53 trillion for the year starting April 1 to up spending on child care support and high school tuition aid, he said. He didn't indicate a new debt ceiling.

Other DPJ policies include cutting temporary gasoline taxes and eliminating highway tolls, while the party may propose a new stimulus package if the economy worsens, Fukuyama said.

"We'd like to increase disposable income for households, and stimulate consumption and domestic demand, instead of just relying on exports," said Fukuyama, a second-term legislator in the Upper House.

The DPJ plans to raise funds to pay for spending by cutting about 15 percent, or ¥10 trillion, from the ¥210 trillion annual government budget.

Aso, who is known for his love of manga, has seen his popularity plunge due to rising unemployment, Cabinet scandals and intraparty bickering. The DPJ increased its lead in voter support over the LDP to 5.3 percentage points, according to a Yomiuri Shimbun poll published yesterday.

DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama was favored over Aso as prime minister 45 percent to 25 percent, the Yomiuri said. Senior colleagues want Aso to quit the LDP helm to improve the party's election prospects.