LEAD: PROFILE: Ozawa, powerful politician known for skillfully maneuvering politics

Democratic Party of Japan heavyweight Ichiro Ozawa has been at the center of politics for decades and earned a not-so-pleasant reputation as a ''backroom fixer'' who skillfully maneuvers politics in turbulent times.

Ozawa has served as DPJ president in the past and just stepped down as the powerful party secretary general in early June, along with then party President and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, over a funding scandal in which his former secretaries were arrested and indicted.

Ozawa, 68, who served as Liberal Democratic Party secretary general from 1989 to 1991 and left the party in 1993, has often been viewed as a ''crasher'' because he has a history of breaking up and forming various political groups.

He played a major role in establishing a short-lived non-LDP coalition government in August 1993, and forming the now-defunct New Frontier Party in 1994 with the aim to capture power.

In September 2003, Ozawa had his Liberal Party merge with and be absorbed into the DPJ, then both in the opposition, and was elected DPJ president in 2006.

After opposition parties collectively gained a majority in the House of Councillors in 2007, he sought to form a grand coalition with the then ruling LDP but failed due to opposition within his own party.

Ozawa stepped down from the top party post in May 2009 after his state-paid secretary was arrested and indicted over dubious political contributions from a general contractor.

But as acting DPJ leader in charge of elections, he helped engineer the party's victory in the August 2009 House of Representatives election and brought about a change of government.

Ozawa's decision to challenge Prime Minister Naoto Kan in the party leadership race comes at a time when an independent judicial panel is reviewing prosecutors' decisions not to indict him over the funding scandal involving his former aides.

Ozawa has often made controversial remarks. He caused a stir early last year when he said the U.S. 7th Fleet, based outside Tokyo, would suffice as the U.S. military presence in the ''Far East.'' He also called Americans simple-minded in a speech late last month.

A native of Iwate Prefecture and son of a former construction minister, he was first elected to the lower house in 1969 and is currently serving his 14th term as a lower house member representing the Iwate No. 4 constituency.

Ozawa's love of fishing is widely known. He also shares with his rival Kan an interest in the Japanese ''go'' board game. Ozawa is apparently a little bit stronger than Kan given that when they have a match, Kan is given a handicap.