The government is considering naming Shigeo Yamada, senior deputy minister for foreign affairs, as Japan's new ambassador to the United States, government sources said Wednesday.
The appointment of Yamada, 59, to replace Koji Tomita, 65, is expected to be approved at a Cabinet meeting soon, the sources said.
The replacement would come after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government hosted a Group of Seven industrialized nations summit in Hiroshima in May, and ahead of next year's U.S. presidential election.
Joining the Foreign Ministry in 1986, Yamada served as minister at the Japanese Embassy in the United States and director general of the ministry's Foreign Policy Bureau before taking up the current post in June 2021.
During his stint as a senior deputy foreign minister, he was involved in the G-7 summit and made efforts to improve bilateral relations with South Korea, which have been soured by wartime compensation disputes and other issues.
Tomita has been serving as envoy to the United States since December 2020. Formerly, he was ambassador to South Korea.
