The Japanese hostage crisis in Iraq and pension reform weighed heavy on the agenda as House of Representatives by-election campaigning kicked off Tuesday in Saitama, Hiroshima and Kagoshima prefectures.
The three April 25 by-elections -- widely viewed as a litmus test for the July 11 House of Councilors election -- will involve candidates fielded by the Liberal Democratic Party, the Democratic Party of Japan and the Japanese Communist Party.
New Komeito, the LDP's coalition partner, is backing LDP candidates in all the constituencies.