Japan coalition ally head Kamei: declined offer to be vice PM

TOKYO, June 27 (Reuters) - The head of a coalition partner to Japan's ruling party said on Monday he had declined a request from Prime Minister Naoto Kan to become vice premier, and that he would become "a special aide".

"The prime minister asked me to lend him a hand as a special aide when I turned down his request to become the vice prime minister," Shizuka Kamei, the head of the People's New Party, told reporters.

Prime Minister Kan, struggling amid sagging support ratings, survived a no-confidence vote earlier this month after saying he would quit but later upset his opponents by blurring the timing of his resignation.

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota, writing by Shinichi Saoshiro; Editing by Joseph Radford)