Aso's party, which has ruled Japan almost without a break for more than half a century, is lagging badly in opinion polls against the untested centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) ahead of the crucial August 30 vote.

To win over undecided voters, still a third of the electorate, the party promised a range of measures, from free pre-school education to steps boosting the economy which is stuck in its worst post-war slump.

By early 2011, Aso pledged, the world's number two economy would once again be humming along at a healthy 2.0 percent growth, a far cry from the 3.4 percent contraction the central bank has forecast for this fiscal year.

Aso also pledged to create two million jobs within three years and vowed that, a decade from now, household incomes would have grown by 10,000 dollars a year and that Japan would lead the world in per capita income.

Approval ratings for Aso -- a political veteran with a gruff demeanour, often derided for his gaffes and erratic policy changes -- have dipped into the teens, badly lagging the opposition Democratic Party of Japan.

On the day Aso spoke, new government data showed that in June the jobless rate rose to 5.4 percent, close to the post-war record, while deflation deepened with the steepest-ever consumer price drop.

With the elections looming, Aso's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has sought to paint itself as the experienced party fit to steer Japan through its economic slump and represent the country on the world stage.

"I want to stress our ability to take responsibility," said Aso. "Campaign pledges must be backed up and consistent... That's what makes us different from other parties."

He added: "I hear that there are people who say this election is going to be revolutionary. But we have no plans for a revolution. I want people to really think about policies and choose us in the end."

The ruling party has attacked the opposition's "people first" campaign pledges unveiled this week -- including generous social welfare spending and scrapped highway tolls, all without tax hikes -- as fiscally irresponsible.

It has also charged that the DPJ, which has routinely opposed the deployment of Japanese forces overseas citing the pacifist constitution, lacks a solid foreign policy agenda and cannot be trusted to ensure Japan's security.

Aso also reiterated that his party would seek debate on reinterpreting Japan's pacifist constitution in a way that would allow its armed forces to take part in some military operations alongside its ally the United States.

The premier said that one idea was that "in light of the difficult North Korean situation, when American vessels that are protecting Japan come under attack, we would enable Japanese Self Defense troops to protect them".

The LDP has stressed its international contribution to "fighting terrorism", including through a naval refuelling mission in support of US-led forces in Afghanistan, which the opposition has said it would scrap.

In its campaign pledges the ruling party also said it would seek a law to enable the government to dispatch troops to missions overseas, doing away with rules that require parliament to pass a temporary law for each mission.

On environmental policies, the LDP said it would seek to increase solar power generation 20-fold by 2020 and 40-fold a decade later.

It also reiterated it would seek the equivalent of an eight percent greenhouse gas emission cut by 2020 on 1990 levels, a target environmentalists have condemned as too low to help reverse climate change.

Like the DPJ, the party said it supports ending "hereditary politics", although one third of Japan's parliamentarians are children of politicians, and both Aso and his opponent Yukio Hatoyama are grandsons of former premiers.

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