The leaders of nine major political parties have traveled about 75,000 km while campaigning for the election, which is equivalent to slightly less than two complete journeys around the Earth, documents from each party showed Saturday.
Prime Minister Taro Aso, also chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, covered 13,000 km in a tour of 25 prefectures after giving his first campaign speech in Tokyo on Aug. 18, traveling by train, plane and chartered helicopter.
While Aso initially uttered words of reflection over the failure to keep the unity of the LDP, the final stages of his campaign focused on stressing his "achievements" in helping the economy recover.
Yukio Hatoyama, president of the main opposition force, the Democratic Party of Japan, traveled 12,633 km across 32 prefectures, according to DPJ documents.
Hatoyama cheered candidates from the Social Democratic Party and People's New Party, his envisaged coalition partners should the DPJ win the election.
Akihiro Ota, leader of New Komeito, the LDP's junior coalition partner, traveled 6,314 km through 11 prefectures in the early stages of the campaign but focused on his own single-seat constituency in Tokyo, where he faces an uphill battle.
The Japanese Communist Party's Kazuo Shii traveled 9,656 km, mainly to large cities in 19 prefectures with the apparent goal of winning support in proportional representation constituencies, while Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima traveled 9,964 km through 24 prefectures.