The mooted appointment of the daughter of assassinated US president John F Kennedy to the high-profile post of ambassador to Japan, was greeted enthusiastically in Japan on Tuesday.
Caroline Kennedy, 55, who was an early supporter of Obama’s 2008 primary campaign before he took on and beat Hillary Clinton’s Democratic machine, has long been a rumoured candidate for the plum Tokyo post.
Kennedy is in the advanced stages of the selection process, an administration official told media Earlier on Monday, both The Washington Post and New York Times reported that she was actively being vetted for the appointment.
Japan’s top government spokesman said it would be a ‘big news’ for the country if she gets the nomination.
‘Late President Kennedy was a figure familiar to many Japanese,’ Yoshihide Suga said at a regular press conference on Tuesday.
‘It would be big news, and would deepen people’s feeling of friendliness (to the United States),’ he said, adding that he would refrain from commenting further until a final decision was made. Kennedy would fit the long tradition of presidents naming high profile envoys to key US ally Japan, who have included former vice president Walter Mondale and former senators Mike Mansfield and Howard Baker.
Caroline Kennedy, 55, who was an early supporter of Obama’s 2008 primary campaign before he took on and beat Hillary Clinton’s Democratic machine, has long been a rumoured candidate for the plum Tokyo post.
Kennedy is in the advanced stages of the selection process, an administration official told media Earlier on Monday, both The Washington Post and New York Times reported that she was actively being vetted for the appointment.
Japan’s top government spokesman said it would be a ‘big news’ for the country if she gets the nomination.
‘Late President Kennedy was a figure familiar to many Japanese,’ Yoshihide Suga said at a regular press conference on Tuesday.
‘It would be big news, and would deepen people’s feeling of friendliness (to the United States),’ he said, adding that he would refrain from commenting further until a final decision was made. Kennedy would fit the long tradition of presidents naming high profile envoys to key US ally Japan, who have included former vice president Walter Mondale and former senators Mike Mansfield and Howard Baker.