Opinion polls conducted just a few days before Sunday's lower house elections show the DPJ clearly ahead, indicating a possible new era in Japanese politics. However, the DPJ has no practical experience of leading a government, a fact the LDP never tires of pointing out.

'But it is likely that the DPJ does not need much (success) but just govern better than the LDP did in past years,' said analyst Axel Klein of the Tokyo-based German Institute for Japanese Studies.

While the LDP always had the prosperity of big business conglomerates at heart, the DPJ has demonstratively sided with the Japanese people.

This stance may not make much of a difference in the end, but it is a novelty for Japan. DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama has consciously played the idea of change in quasi-emulation of US President Barack Obama.

The foreign policy ideas of the DPJ, which consists of LDP-defectors, social democrats and former trade unionists, remain vague, but aim for more independence from the US in security matters.

But the election will not be decided on foreign policy, but domestic issues.

The DPJ promised its voters to substantially increase child support money to 26,000 yen ($280) per month and to abolish higher education fees and highway tolls.

It vowed to introduce a guaranteed minimum income for farmers, minimum pensions and tax breaks for small- and medium-sized enterprises.

It remains unclear whether the DPJ will be able to implement all these promises, especially since the party remains vague about the financing.

Some economists already fear even higher government debt while others insist that even a DPJ administration would not have much room for manoeuvre due to already crumbling finances. Most, however, agree that a power change after more than 50 years of LDP rule would benefit Japan's democracy, as people would realise for the first time that they actually can unseat a government with their vote.