A week before the race officially kicks off, candidates for the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party are wasting no time, using every occasion to show the public they have the right answer to Japan’s long-standing internal and external challenges.

Two policy areas in particular are taking center stage in the debate: taxes and political reform.

The candidates’ recipes to put Japan’s economy back on track after decades of low growth are varied, with some emphasizing redistribution and others promising no tax hikes, in a significant departure from the agenda of outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the incumbent head of the party.