Shizuka Kamei

For 66-year-old former LDP policy chief Shizuka Kamei, the past 2 1/2 years have been filled with betrayal and frustration.

After Koizumi easily won a preliminary round of voting in the 2001 LDP election, Kamei suddenly withdrew from the race and threw his support behind Koizumi as LDP president, expecting that Koizumi would reward him by accepting his economic policy proposals.

But he was mistaken.