| Shizuka Kamei | |
| Native Name Lang: | ja |
| Office: | Minister of State for Financial Services |
| Term Start: | 16 September 2009 |
| Term End: | 11 June 2010 |
| Primeminister: | Yukio Hatoyama Naoto Kan |
| Predecessor: | Kaoru Yosano |
| Successor: | Shōzaburō Jimi |
| Office1: | Minister of Construction |
| Term Start1: | 7 November 1996 |
| Term End1: | 11 September 1997 |
| Primeminister1: | Ryutaro Hashimoto |
| Predecessor1: | Eiichi Nakao |
| Successor1: | Tsutomu Kawara |
| Office2: | Minister of Transport |
| Term Start2: | 30 June 1994 |
| Term End2: | 8 August 1995 |
| Primeminister2: | Tomiichi Murayama |
| Predecessor2: | Nobuaki Futami |
| Successor2: | Takeo Hiranuma |
| Office3: | Member of the House of Representatives |
| Term Start3: | 8 October 1979 |
| Term End3: | 28 September 2017 |
| Successor3: | Koji Satō |
| Constituency3: | Hiroshima-6th (1996–2017) Hiroshima-3rd (1979–1996) |
| Birth Date: | 1936 11, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Shōbara, Hiroshima, Japan |
| Alma Mater: | University of Tokyo |
| Party: | Independent (2014–2017) |
| Otherparty: |
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| Children: | 5 |
| Nationality: | Japanese |
| Website: | Official website |
| Office4: | Minister for Postal Reform |
| Term Start4: | September 16, 2009 |
| Term End4: | June 8, 2010 |
is a former Japanese politician and a former chairman of the Parliamentary League for the Abolition of the Death Penalty.[1] [2] [3]
He was born in the city of Shōbara in Hiroshima Prefecture into a poor family. He studied at the department of economics at University of Tokyo and worked his way through school through various jobs, including singing at a cabaret.
Upon graduation in 1960, he entered Sumitomo Seika, and joined the National Police Agency in 1962. In 1972, he took charge of a number of high-profile cases, including the Red Army Asama-Sanso incident, the Narita Airport incident, and the Tel Aviv highjacking. Kamei is one of the few major politicians to oppose the death penalty, and wrote a book, Shikei Haishi ron, asserting his opposition.
In 1977, he left the agency and received 3.5 million yen in severance pay, which he used to run for the Diet in Hiroshima. He was elected in 1979 as a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
In 1989, he formed the Freedom Reform Alliance, criticizing the LDP's system of factions and strongly supported Shintarō Ishihara. He became Minister of Transport in 1994 and Minister of Construction in 1996. In 1998, he left the Mitsuzuka faction and formed the "Nakayama-Kamei group" with Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Nakayama.
In 1999, he headed up the LDP's Policy Research Council and founded the Kamei faction. In 2003, he unsuccessfully ran for the position of Prime Minister against the incumbent, Junichiro Koizumi.
He opposed Koizumi's postal privatization plan and left the LDP in 2005, forming the Kokumin Shinto (People's New Party) with four other Diet members. Despite facing the popular businessman Takafumi Horie in the 2005 election, he won reelection for the tenth time.
On 16 September 2009, Kamei became the banking and postal services minister in the newly formed Hatoyama cabinet. Throughout the week, he voiced his commitment to providing economic stability for small companies, who he claimed "had lost vitality".[4] He plans to provide a moratorium of up to three years on loan repayments and attempts to put a brake on what he perceives as excesses by financial and lending institutions.[5]
Kamei decided not to run in the 2017 Japanese general election and therefore lost his seat in the House of Representatives.[6]
He is sometimes humorously referred to as Shizuka-chan (where "chan" is a title usually reserved for young girls) after a female character in the manga Doraemon who shares his personal name.
The character "Takeo Tsuruta" in the manga Akumetsu is based on him.
In August 2003, Kamei acknowledged receiving political donations from the leader of a group of loan sharks affiliated to the Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest known yakuza syndicate in Japan.[7] The donor was Susumu Kajiyama.[8]
Kamei is a six-level blackbelt in Aikido and enjoys golf and oil painting. His niece Akiko is a current member of the House of Representatives.
| Election | Age | District | Political party | Number of votes | election results | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 Japanese general election | 42 | Hiroshima 3rd district | LDP | 59,350 | winning | |
| 1980 Japanese general election | 43 | Hiroshima 3rd district | LDP | 86,562 | winning | |
| 1983 Japanese general election | 47 | Hiroshima 3rd district | LDP | 73,862 | winning | |
| 1986 Japanese general election | 49 | Hiroshima 3rd district | LDP | 116,514 | winning | |
| 1990 Japanese general election | 53 | Hiroshima 3rd district | LDP | 97,433 | winning | |
| 1993 Japanese general election | 56 | Hiroshima 3rd district | LDP | 91,064 | winning | |
| 1996 Japanese general election | 59 | Hiroshima 6th district | LDP | 122,071 | winning | |
| 2000 Japanese general election | 63 | Hiroshima 6th district | LDP | 138,790 | winning | |
| 2003 Japanese general election | 67 | Hiroshima 6th district | LDP | 117,659 | winning | |
| 2005 Japanese general election | 68 | Hiroshima 6th district | PNP | 110,979 | winning | |
| 2009 Japanese general election | 72 | Hiroshima 6th district | PNP | 137,287 | winning | |
| 2012 Japanese general election | 76 | Hiroshima 6th district | TPJ | 91,078[9] | winning | |
| 2014 Japanese general election | 78 | Hiroshima 6th district | Independent | 89,756[10] | winning | |
| [11] [12] [13] | ||||||