The campaign office of the Liberal Democratic Party's Matsuji Nakaizumi, an incumbent running in Sunday's Upper House election, features something rather unusual: Dozens of endorsement posters signed by top party heavyweights.
LDP bigwigs have also visited Akita and stumped for Nakaizumi at an unprecedented pace since the two-week campaign formally began July 4, from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga to well-known Lower House lawmaker Shinjiro Koizumi.
"This is rather abnormal," said Shuetsu Kamata, a former chairperson of the Akita Municipal Assembly who now heads Nakaizumi's campaign headquarters. "The LDP wants to desperately defend this seat in Akita."