But as soon as Mr Kamei took office in September, he signalled a halt to privatisation.

ECONOMIST: Japan's failed postal privatisation

Mr Kamei wants to help by having the fund approved and set up by then.

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The DPJ believes it needs Mr Kamei's support for upper-house elections this summer.

ECONOMIST: Japan's failed postal privatisation

"Our experiments have so far shown that MC26 causes few side-effects, definitely much less than amantadine, " said Yuto Kamei, an assistant professor of marine biotechnology and one of those who led the study.

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Ruling coalition member Shizuka Kamei says Japanese voters are flocking to forceful local leaders, such as the mayors of Tokyo and Osaka, who may field their own legislative candidates in the next national election.

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Mr. Kamei says he may join them.

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The imbroglio also raises the question of who runs the country: the prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, or Mr Kamei, the gadfly leader of a small coalition party, whose six parliamentarians give the DPJ its majority in the upper house of the Diet.

ECONOMIST: Japan's failed postal privatisation