Japan PM says yen moves driven by dollar weakness

TOKYO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on Thursday recent moves in the yen are driven by the dollar's weakness.

"As (Federal Reserve Chairman Ben) Bernanke said, the U.S. economy has not recovered as much as had been hoped and in a way, the dollar's weakness is behind the yen's rise," Kan said in a debate ahead of a party leadership vote.

He added that he had a sense of crisis about the yen's rise from an early stage and so the Bank of Japan and the government acted together on policy.

Kan is being challenged by party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa in a Sept. 14 ruling party leadership race and the winner of the vote will likely become premier by virtue of the Democratic Party's majority in parliament's powerful lower house. (Reporting by Yoko Nishikawa, Chisa Fujioka; Editing by Chris Gallagher)