Final campaigning in tight Japan election

Tokyo: Candidates in Japan s super tight election made last ditch appeals to voters on Saturday, with opinion polls suggesting the ruling coalition mi...

Tokyo: Candidates in Japan's super-tight election made last-ditch appeals to voters on Saturday, with opinion polls suggesting the ruling coalition might fall short of a majority.

Such a bombshell outcome would be the worst result for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2009, and potentially a knockout blow to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

Ishiba -- a fan of trains, 1970s pop idols and making model ships and planes -- only last month took the helm of the LDP, which has governed Japan for almost all of the past seven decades.

After a tough internal contest, the 67-year-old former defence minister became premier on October 1.

Days later, he called the snap parliamentary elections, promising a "new Japan".