Among a series of diplomatic appointments on Tuesday, the government named Tsukasa Uemura, a former minister at the Japanese Embassy in Egypt, as ambassador to Saudi Arabia
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration also tapped Tsutomu Himeno, a former consul general in Boston, as ambassador to Ghana, and Hidenao Yanagi, consul general in Munich, as ambassador to Jordan.
Keiichiro Morishita, a former minister at the Japanese Embassy in Spain, was named ambassador to Colombia, and senior Foreign Ministry official Koji Yonetani was appointed ambassador to Djibouti.
The appointments take effect Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Yasuhiro Shimizu, ambassador to Greece, was also appointed to double as ambassador to Cyprus effective Tuesday.