TOKYO, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Japan will not raise the sales tax for about a decade as imposing a higher levy on households at this time would cripple the pandemic-hit economy, Fumio Kishida, a key contender running in the ruling party leadership race, said on Saturday. "We won"t raise the sales tax rate for about a decade," Kishida said in a televised debate with three other candidates to lead the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). While Japan must keep a pledge to pursue fiscal reform, it must prioritise cushioning the blow from the pandemic and create a cycle in which strong growth brings wealth to broader sectors of the economy, he said. Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.