国际英语新闻：Japan's ruling party leadership race officially starts

TOKYO, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- The race for the leadership of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) officially started Wednesday with Prime Minister Naoto Kan going head-to-head with the party's former No. 2 Ichiro Ozawa, in a contest that will ultimately decide who will be Japan's next prime minister.

Both Kan and Ozawa, following talks held on Tuesday, filed their official candidacies Wednesday morning for the Sept. 14 election, at the party's headquarters and thereafter unveiled their policy platforms and went on to hold a joint news conference in the afternoon.

Ozawa said Wednesday his envisioned government will focus strongly on "faithfully" implementing the pledges the DPJ made at the time of the historic change of power last year, which he himself has been largely credited with crafting, including increasing household income and wresting control from Japan's powerful bureaucracy in formulating important policies a comment deemed somewhat ironic by political insiders, considering Ozawa's notorious past.

"This will be the culmination of my long political career," Ozawa told his supporters within the DPJ.

Ozawa's policies include providing 26,000 yen in monthly allowances for each child of junior high school age or younger in fiscal 2012, doubling that of the current amount, whilst Kan's camp is considering reviewing the party's original promise of raising the current 13,000 yen to 26,000 yen and exploring possible alternatives to cash allowances.