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The race for the leadership of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) officially started Wednesday with Prime Minister Naoto Kan going head-to-head with the party's former No. 2 Ichiro Ozawa, in a contest that will ultimately decide who will be Japan's next prime minister.

Both Kan and Ozawa, following talks held on Tuesday, filed their official candidacies Wednesday morning for the Sept. 14 election, at the party's headquarters and thereafter unveiled their policy platforms and went on to hold a joint news conference in the afternoon.

Ozawa said Wednesday his envisioned government will focus strongly on "faithfully" implementing the pledges the DPJ made at the time of the historic change of power last year, which he himself has been largely credited with crafting, including increasing household income and wresting control from Japan's powerful bureaucracy in formulating important policies a comment deemed somewhat ironic by political insiders, considering Ozawa's notorious past.

"This will be the culmination of my long political career," Ozawa told his supporters within the DPJ.

Ozawa's policies include providing 26,000 yen in monthly allowances for each child of junior high school age or younger in fiscal 2012, doubling that of the current amount, whilst Kan's camp is considering reviewing the party's original promise of raising the current 13,000 yen to 26,000 yen and exploring possible alternatives to cash allowances.

In terms of Japan's ailing economy and monumental debt, Ozawa said he will intervene in currency markets to weaken the yen, which has hit 15-year highs against the U.S. dollar recently, and take "every measure" to keep the yen from rising.

The former DPJ secretary general also pledged to introduce a 2 trillion yen (23.7 billion U.S. dollar) economic stimulus package, more than double that planned by his opponent in the election race.

Kan for his part maintained that he was "committed" to dealing with issues of public finances, increasing social security costs, improving social welfare and creating more jobs.

One of the major differences that came to light during the joint news conference held on Wednesday between the two political juggernauts is their stance on the thorny issue of the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma base within Okinawa Prefecture.

Ozawa told reporters it is impossible for Japan and the United States to go ahead with their current plan, agreed on in May, given strong opposition from people in Okinawa, who are calling for the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station to be moved outside the southwestern prefecture.

Kan however said the bilateral accord is valid and it is not necessary to launch fresh bilateral talks as this would be irresponsible. Ozawa denied he was saying that the countries needed to restart talks from scratch, media reports stated.

Despite reports of Tuesday's meeting between the two, the first since the DPJ failed to win a majority in the Upper House election on July 14., ended amicably, with the two shaking hands, many party members have commented that this kind of showdown should have been avoided in light of the economy's dire circumstances and the yen's surge battering Japan's export-led recovery.

Ozawa, who is under investigation for his role in a campaign- finance scandal, is a former party leader and its top election strategist. Kan met with Ozawa on Tuesday and declined to promise to give Cabinet or party posts to his supporters as a means to guarantee cooperation from his opponent.

However at Wednesday's news conference the pair maintained that they are clearly agreed that the possibility of a split in the ruling DPJ is out of the question regardless of the result of the election.

"Several people have proposed personnel matters, but I told them we shouldn't have such back-door discussions right now," Kan told reporters.

"We agreed to fight the election and once it's over to continue to cooperate."

Opinion polls indicate that Kan is ahead of Ozawa by about four- to-one, although the former DPJ secretary general commands the direct support of 150 lawmakers and a further 60 from former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's intraparty group.

Hatoyama, having first pledged to support Kan, reversed his decision in favor of Ozawa, a 68-year old powerbroker, known for his back room dealings and embroilment in political funds scandals, but also largely credited with crafting the election campaign which saw the DPJ oust the then ruling Liberal Democratic Party ( LDP), in an historic victory last summer.

For his part Kan has so far been backed by about 70 DPJ lawmakers belonging to a group headed either by Transport Minister Seiji Maehara or Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda, in addition to his own intraparty group of about 50 lawmakers.

In this presidential election, rank-and-file party supporters will be eligible to vote, in addition to 412 DPJ lawmakers, as well as local assembly members.

Some analysts who previously thought Kan's victory would be a shoo-in, have since changed their position as Ozawa, despite weeks of mediation and deal-making to encourage him not to challenge Kan, has stuck to his guns and has the unequivocal support of his powerful lower house lawmakers -- joined in the belief that the current leadership needs to be changed.

Political sources close to the matter said that the 340,000 strong rank-and-file party members or supporters will sway the outcome of the vote on Sept. 14 because their votes will equal about 35 percent of the votes to be cast.

It is almost certain that the winner of the party's presidential election will become Japan's prime minister because the DPJ holds a majority in the more powerful lower house of parliament.

Should Ozawa manage to overcome his skeptics concerned over the kingpin's tainted political history and general wheeler-dealer style of politics, he will become the third prime minister since the DPJ swept to power last September.