Hachioji, Tokyo ¨C In the lead-up to the Oct. 27 election, Tokyo¡¯s No. 24 district ¡ª encompassing a large part of the city of Hachioji in the capital¡¯s west ¡ª is witnessing a showdown between two candidates who could hardly be more different.

While six people are running in the district, the contest is likely to come down to two candidates: former Upper House lawmaker Yoshifu Arita of the opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) and former Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Koichi Hagiuda, the incumbent who is running without the LDP¡¯s formal endorsement.

On campaign kickoff day on Tuesday, the two camps made their pitches back to back in front of Hachioji Station in the morning.

As commuters were rushing to the ticket gates, a small crowd of bystanders and members of the media slowly gathered in front of an election car with the CDP logo. Minutes later, Arita, adorned with a white-and-yellow sash, climbed on top of the car.

CDP leader Yoshihiko Noda ¡ª a former prime minister ¡ª stood next to him, having chosen Hachioji as the starting point of the CDP¡¯s electoral campaign.

¡°We are now standing at a turning point in history,¡± Arita said in his initial remarks, welcomed by a tepid applause from the audience. ¡°In this election, we must change this society where people who live and work honestly are not rewarded.¡±

Arita then went on to attack Hagiuda for his involvement in the LDP¡¯s slush funds scandal ¡ª in which he underreported funds worth over ?27 million from 2018 to 2021, one of the highest sums in the party ¡ª and his ties to the former Unification Church, which has been under the spotlight ever since the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022 over his own links to the controversial religious group.

¡°We should say farewell to LDP-dominated politics, where these ¡®slush fund lawmakers¡¯ are supported by these organizations behind the scenes,¡± Noda said.

Over the last two years, Hagiuda¡¯s past connections to the Unification Church have come to surface. As recently as last month, the Asahi Shimbun ran a picture of Abe and Hagiuda that appeared to show them meeting a delegation of the group in the summer of 2013, days before the kickoff of an Upper House election.

When he announced his candidacy earlier this month, Arita touted his track record as a journalist investigating Aum Shinrikyo ¡ª the cult that carried out the 1995 Tokyo sarin gas attack ¡ª and the Unification Church. His electoral tagline: ¡°A journalist who has fought against cults.¡±

Arita is not new to races in LDP strongholds. In 2009, he ran in another Tokyo district against another former LDP...