Date of birth: Oct. 22, 1937

Party: DPJ

Electoral district: Upper House; proportional representation (second term)

After graduating from Kyoto University with a degree in engineering, Maeda entered the former Construction Ministry and worked to draw up regional development. He also served as the first secretary of the Vietnam Embassy of Japan.

Maeda first won a Lower House seat in 1986 as an LDP member. In 1993, he left the LDP and joined Shinshinto (New Frontier Party) before joining the DPJ in April 1998, following the leadership of Ichiro Ozawa. He ran for an Upper House seat in 2004 and won his second term last year.

Maeda values wooden structures and urges renovation instead of razing to build new ones.

Born to a family of politicians, Maeda spent a few years as a secretary to his Diet member uncle.