Ms. Caroline Kennedy, the daughter and only living child of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, is expected to arrive in Tokyo in September at the earliest as a successor to Ambassador John Roos. It is hoped that her ambassadorship will help deepen Japanese and American people's mutual interest in each other and strengthen bilateral relationship between the two countries.
President Barack Obama's decision to appoint her as U.S. ambassador to Japan caused a controversy in the United States because he chose her mainly on the strength of his close personal relations with her. In the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Ms. Kennedy supported Mr. Obama by declaring during primaries that he was the person who inherited the ideal of the Kennedys. Her support for Mr. Obama helped him win a neck-and-neck race with Ms. Hillary Clinton.
Ms. Kennedy, a lawyer and writer, has no experience in diplomacy and is not an expert on Japan. Clearly Mr. Obama's choice of her as ambassador to Japan is a reward for her political support to him. But attention must be paid to other aspects.
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