Campaigning for the July 11 Upper House election, set to start Thursday, has already been under way for all practical purposes, as key members of the ruling and opposition parties hit the hustings across the country. On Monday, at a joint debate session at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, party heads staked out their positions, providing a bird's-eye view of key issues.

The two-hour debate brought into sharp focus a pattern of confrontation between the ruling and opposition camps over reform of the public pension system, participation of Japanese troops in a U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq and other contentious issues. In a Kyodo News poll last week, 50 percent of the respondents said they would give top priority to pension reform in casting their ballots. They also mentioned, in order of importance, economic recovery, constitutional revision, North Korea and Iraq.

An Upper House election, unlike a general election for the Lower House, is not a direct contest for power. This, however, does not detract from the value of Upper House election promises. Going into the last general election in November, main parties published "manifestos" to make themselves more accountable for their promises. They should do the same this time around. For the ruling parties, it is also necessary to make clear how much progress they have made toward achieving the goals of their November manifestos.