Campaigning for July 21 upper house election kicks off in Japan

Official campaigning began Thursday for Japan's House of Councillors election, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeking to maintain political stability to press ahead with the first-ever constitutional revision and a planned consumption tax hike.The July 21 poll comes amid heated debates between ruling and opposition parties over a controversial estimate on required levels of retirement savings that sparked concerns about the pension system's ability to provide for people in rapidly aging Japan.The October tax hike -- from 8 percent to 10 percent -- that is likely to hit household spending, i…READ FULL ARTICLE