Date of birth: Nov. 1, 1936

Party: Kokumin Shinto

Electoral district: Lower House; Hiroshima No. 6 (11th term)

Kamei, an outspoken veteran reappointed as postal and financial affairs minister, put every effort into scaling back the privatization of Japan Post Holdings Co. during the Hatoyama administration and continues pressing for related legislation.

The 73-year-old Kokumin Shinto (People's New Party) chief first worked at a steel chemical company after graduating from University of Tokyo and then joined the National Police Agency before being elected to the Lower House in 1979. Under LDP rule, he served as transport minister, construction minister and other key posts.

However, because he opposed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's postal privatization plan, he was effectively expelled from the LDP and launched Kokumin Shinto.