PROFILE: Kan, 2-time DPJ leader, known to be tough vs. bureaucrats

TOKYO, Sept. 5 Kyodo -
Naoto Kan, who is set to be deputy prime minister and strategy minister of the
new government, is a co-founder of the Democratic Party of Japan, heading the
party twice since its inception in 1998.
The activist-turned-lawmaker, known for his debating skills, is a symbolic
figure in the DPJ's attempt to stop bureaucratic meddling in politics.
Kan, 62, will spearhead the incoming government's planned National Strategy
Bureau, a new body aimed at wresting strong control from Japan's powerful
bureaucracy in formulating policies and budgetary matters.
Kan shot to fame when he was health minister in 1996, battling bureaucrats over
Japan's HIV-tainted-blood scandals involving the ministry and a now-defunct
pharmaceutical firm.
He was then a key member of the multiparty ruling coalition that dethroned the
Liberal Democratic Party in 1993.
After the LDP returned to power, Kan formed the DPJ with other anti-LDP
lawmakers in April 1998 and served as the first leader until September 1999.
He was elected party leader again in December 2002 but stepped down in May 2004
after coming under fire for not having paid pension premiums in the past.
After being involved in civic activities in the 1970s, Kan, a graduate of the
Tokyo Institute of Technology, was first elected in 1980 as a member of a small
opposition party.
Kan, born in Yamaguchi Prefecture, is now in his 10th term in the House of
Representatives and occupying the Tokyo No. 18 constituency seat.
He has a family of four with two sons.
==Kyodo