[1] He became known as a television personality in the late 1980s and early 1990s, both in comical roles and as a serious newscaster (hosting the Saturday evening news program on TV Tokyo from 1989 to 1991).

Kaieda was tapped to serve as Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy from September 2010, in which role he encouraged the Bank of Japan to purchase foreign currency assets in order to stop a sharp appreciation in the value of the Japanese yen.

[4] He had been under intense pressure to resign from the Liberal Democratic Party, and was brought to tears on the Diet floor following 20 minutes of berating from LDP legislator Ryosei Akazawa days earlier.

[5] After Kan resigned in August 2011, Kaieda competed to replace him, supported by former DPJ leader Ichirō Ozawa, then under suspension from the party after being indicted for alleged violation of the Political Funds Act.

[11] It was suggested that his rise to the leadership could lead to cooperation with Ozawa, who had left the DPJ during 2012 due to Noda's pushing through of a consumption tax increase.

He re-won the Tokyo 1st district seat in the 2017 general election after a closely contested race with Miki Yamada.