A former top executive of Nomura Securities Co. will become ambassador to Greece, the government announced Tuesday, on the heels of its appointment of an adviser to trading house Itochu Corp. as the next envoy to China.
Taking the Athens portfolio will be Hiroshi Toda, a former vice chairman at Nomura, the nation's top brokerage. Uichiro Niwa of Itochu Corp. was earlier named to head up the Beijing mission.
The Foreign Ministry said it made the rare decision to give private-sector business executives ambassadorial posts in major countries with the hope they will use their expertise to maintain good relations.