主题：【文摘】日本大选和中日关系 -- 颜赤城

In general, Mr. Abe is regarded as ideologically more conservative than Mr. Koizumi. For instance, Mr. Koizumi has stated that he accepts the validity of the postwar Tokyo Trials, which found Japanese guilty of war crimes, including the 14 Class A war criminals enshrined in Yasukuni. In a recent parliamentary debate, Mr. Abe indicated strongly that he did not believe the trials were valid.

Also, in Parliament and in television interviews, asked directly whether Japan had led a war of aggression or liberation in Asia, Mr. Abe has said that he would leave the judgment to future generations or historians.

"On the issue of how to define the last great war, I think it's not the government's job," Mr. Abe said in a parliamentary exchange in February.

Though Mr. Fukuda is thought to have the support of moderates and businesspeople, Mr. Abe is believed to be more popular among the actual voters in the September election: party members.

Hiroshi Imazu, a lawmaker who has yet to decide whom to support, said he endorses Mr. Koizumi's tough stance toward China. The leader of a group of lawmakers that supports visits to Yasukuni, Mr. Imazu said that Japan had become diplomatically isolated.

"But I don't think the fault is Koizumi's, but China and South Korea's attitude," he said.

Mr. Abe is considered by party members and the public to be more of a charismatic, Koizumi-style politician capable of appealing directly to voters and carrying the party to victory in general elections. Perhaps because of his age, Mr. Fukuda is regarded as belonging to an older generation of politicians more comfortable making deals in smoke-filled rooms.

"Abe has made himself clear on various issues to the people, while Fukuda seems like an old-style politician," said Jozo Takeda, a legislator in Hyogo Prefecture.

Mr. Abe is also said to enjoy more support in the regional party branches, where members are concerned less with foreign diplomacy than pocketbook issues, especially the widening inequality gap between urban and rural areas.

"We'll make a decision and vote on this issue," said Fumito Murakami, secretary general of Akita Prefecture's party branch. "We don't care about foreign policy."