Japanese PM Taro Aso steps up campaigns for parliamentary elections

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Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has stepped up campaigns for his party in the country's parliamentary elections. The leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is promising to boost household income and revive the economy.

This is a common shopping arcade in the Japanese capital. But on Friday, it got an uncommon visitor.

Personally suffering an approval rating of just 20 percent, and with his party facing serious challenges from the opposition... Prime minister Taro Aso hopes his campaign can reassure voters and save his party from a historic loss.

Taro Aso said, "The change in power is a mere step for the opposition party. What can they really do when they come into power? We are different. We will continue to provide policies to improve the economy."

But his appearance, along with his policy pledges, received mixed reactions from the crowd.

Katsusuke Ito, a business owner, said, "I want Aso to continue working in order to stabilize some of the policies he just started."

Masao Tanaka, a store owner, said, "I am hoping that a new group of people with new policies will come out of this competition."

Preventing a new group of people from winning the general elections is precisely what Aso has been trying to do. Earlier on Friday, he announced the policy manifesto of his Liberal Democratic Party which laid out detailed targets for the country's economic growth.