Photo/Illutration Koji Tomita, Japan’s next ambassador to the United States. (Provided by the Foreign Ministry)

Koji Tomita, currently ambassador to South Korea, is tapped to become Japan's next envoy to the United States because of his close ties to the incoming Biden administration, government sources said.

Tomita held senior Foreign Ministry posts when Joe Biden was vice president under President Barack Obama and formed a strong network of contacts with U.S. Democrats.

He will replace the current ambassador, Shinsuke Sugiyama, 67, roughly coinciding with the president-elect’s inauguration in January, the sources said. Tomita, 63, is expected to assume the post by the end of January.

Koichi Aiboshi, 61, Japan’s ambassador to Israel, will likely succeed Tomita as ambassador to South Korea, the sources said.

Tomita joined the ministry in 1981 as a career diplomat. He assumed senior ministry posts, including minister at the Japanese Embassy in Washington and director-general of the ministry’s North American Affairs Bureau, when Biden was vice president.

Tomita had also served as ambassador to Israel before assuming his current post in October 2019.

It is unusual, though, for a ministry official to become ambassador to the United States without first having served as vice foreign minister, the top post for a career diplomat, or senior deputy foreign minister.

Sugiyama became ambassador to the United States in January 2018 with the task for forging strong ties with the Trump administration after serving as vice foreign minister.

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