Depending on which report you read, Caroline Kennedy is either definitely going to be appointed as the next U.S. ambassador to Japan or probably going to be appointed.
Kennedy's career as a lawyer is not particularly storied, but she is the daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy.
On the surface, Kennedy's potential appointment as ambassador to the world's third-largest economy and major U.S. ally, not to mention a country where rising nationalism and a declining economy could bring major changes, would seem like a case of hiring for prestige rather than merit.