The clear favorite to become the first female leader of Japan's biggest opposition party believes Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's signature Abenomics policy has stalled and a change of gear is needed to favor people over corporations.

Renho, a former TV announcer born to a Taiwanese father and a Japanese mother, also criticized Abe for failing to express remorse over Japan's wartime aggression on the anniversary of Tokyo's defeat in World War II, a stance that also rankles with Asian neighbors China and South Korea.

Renho, 48, who goes by her given name only, hopes to repair the Democratic Party's image, battered by three years in power that were plagued by infighting, policy flip flops and unkept promises that handed Abe's Liberal Democratic Party a landslide election win in December 2012.