Date of birth: July 2, 1959

Party: Democratic Party of Japan

Electoral district: Lower House; Saga No. 1 (fifth term)

Haraguchi often appears on TV and is popular with the public for his analyses of tax, pension and decentralization issues.

After becoming the internal affairs and communications minister last year, he forged a plan to slash hiring of central government officials.

He began his political career in 1987 as an LDP member in the Saga Prefectural Assembly. He switched to Shinshinto and held some of the party's local chapter executive posts.

Winning a Lower House seat in 1996, he joined the DPJ two years later, after Shinshinto disbanded.

After studying psychology at the University of Tokyo, Haraguchi attended the Matsushita Institute of Government and Management.