Former Vice Foreign Minister Yutaka Kawashima will take up the post of grand master of ceremonies at the Imperial Household Agency, government sources said Friday.
Kawashima, 61, will succeed Yoshio Karita in early July, the sources said.
Kawashima resigned as vice foreign minister in August 2001 in the wake of a series of scandals involving the use of public funds by the government. He was also involved in a dispute with then Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka.