TOKYO (AFP) - - A crowded race to be Japan's next prime minister kicked off Wednesday, with candidates vowing to support the US-led "war on terror" but clashing on the troubled state of Asia's largest economy.

Five lawmakers are vying to succeed Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who abruptly quit last week -- a record number of candidates for a race in Japan's long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

Front-runner Taro Aso, a flamboyant former foreign minister, cast himself as the best candidate to do battle against a resurgent opposition as expectations grow for a snap election soon after the LDP's September 22 vote.

"Compared with other candidates, I think I have more experience and achievements," said Aso, currently the LDP secretary general.

Aso signalled he would end Japan's military mission flying goods and personnel into Iraq in support of the US-led coalition, bowing to an opposition demand.

But Aso and his rivals all vowed to defy the opposition and continue a separate naval mission in the Indian Ocean that provides fuel to US-led forces in Afghanistan.

Yuriko Koike, a former TV anchorwoman seeking to be Japan's first female prime minister, said that mission was key to ensuring that officially pacifist Japan is "respected" by the world community.

"I can only call it heartbreaking if I would have to bring them back merely because of the domestic political situation," said Koike, a former defence and environment minister.

Japan's opposition is against any Japanese military involvement in Iraq and forced a temporary halt last year to the Indian Ocean mission.

Another LDP hopeful, Shigeru Ishiba, a former defence chief who spearheaded Japan's landmark ground deployment to Iraq that ended in 2006, said the global fight against terrorism had reached its "most critical stage."

But the candidates clashed on whether to raise taxes to rebuild government finances in the world's second largest economy.

Japan has the worst public debt of any developed nation, partly a legacy of efforts to recover from recession in the 1990s, but the economy again contracted in the second quarter amid a global downturn.

"I doubt we can raise the consumption tax right now because it would send a chill through the economy," Aso said.

He suggested he would ignore a goal set by reformist premier Junichiro Koizumi in 2006 to achieve primary balance -- revenue matching spending, minus debt payments -- by the 2011 fiscal year.

"The current economic situation is obviously different from that when we decided to achieve primary balance," Aso later told NHK television.

But rival Kaoru Yosano, the minister for economic and fiscal policy, said politicians had a responsibility to preserve the pension system, which faces crisis as the population rapidly ages.

"As prime minister, I would like to leave Japan as a good place for future generations," said Yosano, a 70-year-old political veteran.

While not promising an immediate rise in the consumption tax -- now at five percent -- Yosano said eventual hikes were inevitable.

"If the consumption tax doesn't reach 10 percent by around 2015, the welfare system won't be able to be maintained and finances will be in trouble," Yosano told Nippon Television.

The other candidate, 51-year-old Nobuteru Ishihara, has pledged to appeal to a younger generation and push forward administrative reforms.

Fukuda came under intense criticism for raising medical costs on the elderly.

A weekend poll showed the LDP had gained support after Fukuda's resignation and now enjoyed a narrow edge over the opposition.

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