The government Friday decided to appoint Naomi Unemoto, head of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutor's Office, as prosecutor-general, making her the first woman to take the post.

With the appointment, which takes effect July 9, Unemoto, 61, will succeed current Prosecutor-General Yukio Kai, who will retire.

Unemoto, who became a public prosecutor in 1988, worked at the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office and took the helm of the Hiroshima High Public Prosecutor's Office before becoming superintending prosecutor at the Tokyo office in January 2023.

The Tokyo office's top post will go to Deputy Prosecutor-General Takahiro Saito, 61.