TOKYO - FRESH faces within Japan's ailing ruling party prepared on Friday to run for prime minister against perennial candidate Taro Aso, calling for a generational change as general elections loom.

Mr Aso, a conservative former foreign minister, has emerged as the frontrunner to succeed Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who suddenly quit Monday after months of weak poll ratings and low growth in the world's second largest economy.

But Mr Aso, 67, has lost in three previous races for prime minister and has met resistance from reformists within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who distrust Mr Aso for his eagerness to use public funds to boost the economy.

Mr Yasufumi Tanahashi, 45-year-old former minister for science and technology, met late Thursday with other LDP politicians from his generation and voiced hope to join the race for premier. The party will vote on September 22.

'It is up to politicians in their 30s and 40s to assume responsibility for the next era. I want to make efforts to run in the race for party leader and bring generational change to politics,' Mr Tanahashi said.

Another group of young-generation LDP lawmakers are discussing fielding Mr Ichita Yamamoto, 50, a colourful politician who holds a senior foreign ministry position, according to media reports.

A favourite of television talk shows, Mr Yamamoto is a former NGO worker and musician. When South Korea lifted a longstanding ban on Japanese cultural imports, Mr Yamamoto put on a concert in Seoul, singing songs in Korean in a bid to show reconciliation.

LDP members must gather 20 backers by September 10 to run for the top job.

The prime minister must call general elections by September 2009. Some analysts believe a new prime minister may try to capitalise on any initial popularity to call an election soon.

The opposition last year won one house of parliament in a landmark defeat for the LDP, which has been in power for all but 10 months since 1955.

Two economic reformists are expected to challenge Mr Aso - economic and fiscal policy minister Kaoru Yosano, 70, and Ms Yuriko Koike, 56, who would be Japan's first female leader.

Mr Nobuteru Ishihara, 51, the son of Tokyo's popular nationalist governor, has also said he will run if no one else challenges Mr Aso. -- AFP