Japan PM candidate Ozawa: need to stop rapid yen rises

TOKYO, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Japanese ruling party powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa, challenging Prime Minister Naoto Kan in a party leadership vote, said on Thursday that action was needed to stem rapid rises in the yen.

Ozawa also told a news conference that solo currency market intervention by Japan might not have much impact but that Japanese authorities should be prepared to act.

He said there was only limited scope for monetary policy alone to fix the Japanese currency's rise.

"Room for further monetary policy steps is limited. With the global community tolerating a strong yen, it might be hard for solo currency intervention to have an effect. Still, the yen's rise has come to a level where we will need to act with such a determination." (Editing by Chris Gallagher)