V
oting is under way in Japan in a general election which looks set to bring a historic change of government.
Opinion polls predict victory for the Democratic Party of Japan after more than 50 years of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Japan is suffering record unemployment and its economy is struggling to emerge from a bruising recession.
Polls close at 2000 (1100 GMT) on Sunday and Japanese media will announce exit polls immediately afterwards.
Turnout was expected to be high despite a combination of muggy hot temperatures and typhoon-triggered rough weather around different parts of the country, and a government warning that a swine flu epidemic was under way.
Change needed?
Just before midday, more than 21% of voters had cast their ballots, the internal affairs ministry said - nearly 1% higher than in 2005 when elections saw the charismatic Junichiro Koizumi's LDP returned with a significant majority.
The conservative LDP, currently led by Prime Minister Taro Aso, has governed Japan for all but 11 months since 1955.
But several media polls predict that the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) will win more than 300 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament, reversing the election result of 2005.
Analysts say voters blame the LDP for the current economic malaise - and are angry enough to opt for change.
"I think we need a change now," 68-year-old Tokyo pensioner Toshihiro Nakamura was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
"It's too long for a single party to dominate national politics.
Haruko Kurakata, who said she had voted for an opposition candidate, criticised the frequent changes in Japan's leadership since Mr Koizumi stepped down in 2006.
"It's nonsense to see four prime ministers in four years without asking for the people's opinion," he said.
'Fed up'
As campaigning drew to a close, DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama said that voters were about to change history.
"This is an election to choose whether voters can muster the courage to do away with the old politics," he told crowds in Sakai in the west of Japan on Saturday.
The centrist DPJ says it will shift the focus of government from supporting corporations to helping consumers and workers - challenging the status quo that has existed since the end of World War II.
It has promised to cut waste within the bureaucracy and use the funds to increase welfare spending.
But Mr Aso questioned whether the DPJ had enough experience to govern.
"Can you trust these people? It's a problem if you feel uneasy whether they can really run this country," he told a rally outside Tokyo.
The DPJ already controls Japan's upper house with the support of smaller parties including the Social Democrats.
It won control of the house in July 2007, amid voters' anger at a series of scandals and the loss of millions of pension payment records.
Correspondents say voters' desire for change after so many years under the LDP could be a crucial factor.
Tokyo University political science professor Takashi Mikuriya told Japanese media that the election "is more about emotions than policies".
"Most voters are making the decision not about policies but about whether they are fed up with the ruling party," he said.
oting is under way in Japan in a general election which looks set to bring a historic change of government.
Opinion polls predict victory for the Democratic Party of Japan after more than 50 years of almost unbroken rule by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Japan is suffering record unemployment and its economy is struggling to emerge from a bruising recession.
Polls close at 2000 (1100 GMT) on Sunday and Japanese media will announce exit polls immediately afterwards.
Turnout was expected to be high despite a combination of muggy hot temperatures and typhoon-triggered rough weather around different parts of the country, and a government warning that a swine flu epidemic was under way.
Change needed?
Just before midday, more than 21% of voters had cast their ballots, the internal affairs ministry said - nearly 1% higher than in 2005 when elections saw the charismatic Junichiro Koizumi's LDP returned with a significant majority.
The conservative LDP, currently led by Prime Minister Taro Aso, has governed Japan for all but 11 months since 1955.
But several media polls predict that the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) will win more than 300 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament, reversing the election result of 2005.
Analysts say voters blame the LDP for the current economic malaise - and are angry enough to opt for change.
"I think we need a change now," 68-year-old Tokyo pensioner Toshihiro Nakamura was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.
"It's too long for a single party to dominate national politics.
Haruko Kurakata, who said she had voted for an opposition candidate, criticised the frequent changes in Japan's leadership since Mr Koizumi stepped down in 2006.
"It's nonsense to see four prime ministers in four years without asking for the people's opinion," he said.
'Fed up'
As campaigning drew to a close, DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama said that voters were about to change history.
"This is an election to choose whether voters can muster the courage to do away with the old politics," he told crowds in Sakai in the west of Japan on Saturday.
The centrist DPJ says it will shift the focus of government from supporting corporations to helping consumers and workers - challenging the status quo that has existed since the end of World War II.
It has promised to cut waste within the bureaucracy and use the funds to increase welfare spending.
But Mr Aso questioned whether the DPJ had enough experience to govern.
"Can you trust these people? It's a problem if you feel uneasy whether they can really run this country," he told a rally outside Tokyo.
The DPJ already controls Japan's upper house with the support of smaller parties including the Social Democrats.
It won control of the house in July 2007, amid voters' anger at a series of scandals and the loss of millions of pension payment records.
Correspondents say voters' desire for change after so many years under the LDP could be a crucial factor.
Tokyo University political science professor Takashi Mikuriya told Japanese media that the election "is more about emotions than policies".
"Most voters are making the decision not about policies but about whether they are fed up with the ruling party," he said.
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