Political leaders pulled out all stops Saturday in campaigning for today's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election, which will give the first indication of whether Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's popularity will bolster his Liberal Democratic Party.

With the House of Councilors election due in just five weeks, election strategists from the ruling and opposition camps are viewing the Tokyo poll — the biggest in Japan with close to 10 million eligible voters — as the bellwether for the July 29 Upper House election.

Koizumi, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, made a last campaign pitch after returning to Tokyo in the late afternoon from a day trip to Okinawa.