Former Vice Foreign Minister Yoshiji Nogami is advising employees at the ministry on Middle East affairs, despite his demotion to the ministry's secretariat, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Friday.
Nogami is not actually involved in the decision-making process, which is being handled by the division directors and bureau directors general, she said.
"Middle East issues are currently fluid," Kawaguchi said. "The former vice minister has some networks in the area and so he is providing advice" to bureaucrats in charge of the region.