Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said Friday she will name Tadashi Imai, head of the ministry's Intelligence and Analysis Bureau, as the next ambassador to Israel.
Imai, 57, will fill a post that has been vacant since his predecessor, Hiroshi Shigeta, returned home in March. Shigeta was sent to the Middle East earlier this month as Kawaguchi's special envoy in an effort to persuade Israeli and Palestinian leaders to end the ongoing violence.
Imai's appointment will be formally approved at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday. He served as head of the ministry's Consular and Migration Affairs Department before being named to his current post in January 2001.