Photo/Illutration Hideo Tarumi, left, Japanese ambassador to China, holds talks with Yin Li, party secretary of Fujian province, in November 2021. (Atsushi Okudera)

The government is making final arrangements to name Kenji Kanasugi, the former head of the Foreign Ministry’s Asian affairs bureau, as the next ambassador to China, according to sources familiar with Japan-China relations.

The Cabinet is expected to finalize the decision soon.

Kanasugi, 64, currently ambassador to Indonesia, will be Japan’s first ambassador to China in around seven years who is not a member of the Foreign Ministry’s so-called China school, a faction of Japanese diplomats trained in the Chinese language.

Kanasugi has served as director-general of the ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, which is crucial for Japan’s diplomacy across Asia, including in China.

He will replace Hideo Tarumi, 62, who plans to leave the post by the end of this year. Tarumi is a member of China school and has led diplomacy with China since he became ambassador in November 2020.

During this time, Beijing’s zero-COVID policy reduced personal interactions between Japanese and Chinese people.

As ambassador, Tarumi tackled a broad variety of issues, including responding to major shifts in political and diplomatic policies and in the business environment under Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as protecting Japanese nationals in China.

While he is known for his extensive network of connections and deep understanding of China, Tarumi’s ability to gather information also alarmed the Chinese government.

His successor will face several key challenges.

One is to improve relations between the two countries, which have been strained by issues such as the situation in Taiwan, economic security and the discharge of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Another goal is to hold summits between China and Japan once again, since these meetings have been stalled since last year.

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