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Noda Cabinet (Formed September 2, 2011)
NATIONAL PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION CHAIRMAN
Kenji Yamaoka
Date of birth: April 25, 1943
Party: DPJ
Electoral district: Lower House; Tochigi No. 4 (fifth term)
Yamaoka is a veteran politician who will be doing double duty by serving as minister of consumer affairs.
The 68-year-old lawmaker served as chairman of the DPJ's Diet Affairs Committee from September 2007 to June 2010 and acted as the party's vice president until Naoto Kan's resignation.
During these terms, Yamaoka kept a high profile as one of DPJ kingpin Ichiro Ozawa's close allies.
After winning his first bid for the Upper House in 1983, Yamaoka ran for a Lower House seat in 1993.
Yamaoka graduated with a degree in politics from Keio University in 1966 and worked as a secretary for novelist Sohachi Yamaoka, his father-in-law, before deciding to become a lawmaker.
Subsequent changes
