Japan's two giant opposition parties said Tuesday that they plan to form a joint bloc at both houses of parliament in an attempt to challenge the ruling party, local media reported.

Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Edano and Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki agreed on the plan during a meeting about one month after an upper house election that saw the ruling bloc secure a solid win.

"We are making the first step toward becoming an alternative to the LDP," Tamaki told reporters after the meeting, referring to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party.

After intraparty procedures are finished, the two opposition parties plan to strengthen cooperation from an extraordinary Diet session this fall.

To work out a plan, the opposition leaders started to have a series of talks since early August when Tamaki said he hopes to form a joint parliamentary group for the next lower house election.

It is still uncertain how well the two opposition parties can coordinate their policies for the envisaged formation of a unified parliamentary bloc at both houses, according to local media.

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