Tokyo, July 3 -- The election campaign for Japan's House of Councillors, or the upper house of the Diet, was officially launched on Thursday.
The 17-day campaign will determine whether the ruling coalition, currently a minority in the lower house, can retain a majority in the chamber by securing at least 50 of the 125 contested seats.
A total of 519 candidates have registered across electoral districts and proportional representation, including 152 women, nearly 30 percent of the total, marking the second-highest female representation on record, national broadcaster NHK reported.
The central issue in the election is countering inflation, with parties proposing measures such as direct cash payments, reductions or abolition of the consumpti...