is a Japanese retired politician who served in the House of Representatives from 1979 to 2017. He was a faction leader in the Liberal Democratic Party, but left in opposition to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in 2005 and founded the People's New Party.
He is a former chairman of the Parliamentary League for the Abolition of the Death Penalty.Shizuka Kamei: “Abolition of the Capital Punishment System”.YouTube.FCCJchannel (YouTube channel).Published 6 October 2016.Retrieved 15 December 2016.The Capital Punishment Debate in Japan. Nippon.com. Published 16 April 2015. Retrieved 13 November 2018.The Death Penalty in Japan: The Law of Silence. International Federation for Human Rights. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
Early life 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.
Political career 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".Japan Bank Min Kamei:Moratorium Must Be Discussed In Best Way Nasdaq.com, September 17, 2009. 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.新政権で金融株激震 亀井など閣僚発言が波乱要因 Yahoo! Japan, September 18, 2009.
Kamei decided not to run in the 2017 Japanese general election and therefore lost his seat in the House of Representatives.応援して下さった皆様へ. Shizuka-Kamei official website. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
Cultural references 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.
Scandal 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."Out of the shadows", August 19, 2003, The Independent The donor was Susumu Kajiyama."Shizuka Kamei, political donations from the loan shark king, Susumu Kajiyama" , August 15, 2003, Rondan or "Goryo-kai senior who was arrested for underground loaning - donations to Shizuka Kamei", August 17, 2003, Shimbun Akahata
Personal life Kamei is a six-level blackbelt in Aikido and enjoys golf and oil painting.
Election history Election Age District Political party Number of votes election results1979 Japanese general election42Hiroshima 3rd districtLDP59,350winning1980 Japanese general election43Hiroshima 3rd districtLDP86,562winning1983 Japanese general election47Hiroshima 3rd districtLDP73,862winning1986 Japanese general election49Hiroshima 3rd districtLDP116,514winning1990 Japanese general election53Hiroshima 3rd districtLDP97,433winning1993 Japanese general election56Hiroshima 3rd districtLDP91,064winning1996 Japanese general election59Hiroshima 6th districtLDP122,071winning2000 Japanese general election63Hiroshima 6th districtLDP138,790winning2003 Japanese general election67Hiroshima 6th districtLDP117,659winning2005 Japanese general election68Hiroshima 6th districtPNP110,979winning2009 Japanese general election72Hiroshima 6th districtPNP137,287winning2012 Japanese general election76Hiroshima 6th districtTPJ91,078winning2014 Japanese general election78Hiroshima 6th districtIndependent89,756winning
See also
Capital punishment in Japan Nobuto Hosaka
References
Further reading , Shizuka Kamei, Publisher , July 2002.
External links Official website (Japanese)