Japan announces new national security adviser

Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Masataka Okano will be named as the country’s next top security adviser, replacing Takeo Akiba.

The decision was formally approved in a Cabinet meeting on Friday, and will come into effect on Jan. 20, the same day that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn in as the next commander-in-chief of Japan’s most important ally.

Under the administration of former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Okano, a 60-year-old career diplomat with experience in both Washington and Beijing and a former chief of the Foreign Ministry’s Russia division, served as an aid to the deputy chief cabinet secretary and vice minister for foreign affairs, playing a central role in Japan’s diplomatic initiatives.