Yukio Hatoyama, leader of the Democratic Party of Japan, said Saturday that he'll focus on economic policies to reinvigorate domestic demand should his party win the Aug. 30 Lower House election.
"We have been too dependent on overseas demand," Hatoyama said on a TV Tokyo program. "And when that demand collapsed, there's no denying we suffered an overwhelming impact."
Prime Minister Taro Aso, head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, didn't respond directly to Hatoyama's comments as the two, along with the heads of four other contending political parties, outlined their platforms on the program.
The DPJ, which is widely favored to win, is expected to take 40 percent of the vote to the LDP's 24 percent, according to a poll published Saturday by The Yomiuri Shimbun.
The DPJ's platform includes a plan to lower gasoline taxes and cut the corporate tax rate for smaller companies to 11 percent from 18 percent. The party also intends to aid families with such measures as child-care allowance.
Aso questioned the soundness of welfare spending in the absence of adequate resources.
"Without economic growth, funding sources to allocate toward welfare won't be available," he said.
All six leaders denied the possibility of Japan developing nuclear weapons, in response to a question on how the nation should respond to North Korea's nuclear test and missile launches earlier this year.