Overview

• Five candidates fanned out nationwide on the first weekend of official campaigning, with Takayuki Kobayashi in Wakkanai arguing defense spending remains insufficient and visiting a Self-Defense Forces facility.
• A crowd-flow analysis of the Sept. 24 Akihabara speeches found attendees skewed older, with the share of people aged 30 and under nearly 20% below a typical September weekday and a higher concentration of people in their 40s and 50s.
• A Kyodo/Chunichi survey of 47 prefectural LDP leaders showed 20 said lawmakers tied to faction slush-fund scandals could be appointed to key posts, compared with 12 who opposed such appointments.
• In the same survey, 32 prefectural leaders favored strengthening regulations on land purchases by foreigners or foreign capital, with none selecting that tougher rules were unnecessary.
• Former policy chief Koichi Hagiuda endorsed Sanae Takaichi, citing her bid to become the first female prime minister and criticizing pledges of continuity with the Ishiba administration by Shinjiro Koizumi and Yoshimasa Hayashi, as party-member postcard ballots are due Oct. 1 and the vote is set for Oct. 4.