U.S. ambassador to Japan planning to leave post in November

WASHINGTON

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel has told people around him of his intention to leave his post in November, government sources said Friday.

Emanuel, known for his tough stance on China, who has played an active role in deepening Washington-Tokyo ties, is considering leaving Japan before or after Thanksgiving on Nov. 28, the U.S. sources said, adding he is hoping to be part of the transition if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the presidential election.

If Donald Trump, a former president and the Republican nominee, wins the Nov. 5 election, he will undoubtedly name a new ambassador to Japan. The sources said Emanuel, 64, has no interest in staying in the post until the next envoy is selected as he wants to seek a new post in a Harris administration.

U.S. online news site Axios recently reported that Emanuel could be one of the candidates for Harris’ national security adviser position.

The ambassador arrived in Japan in January 2022, filling the post that had been vacant since his predecessor, William Hagerty, resigned in July 2019 to run for the Senate.

Even before arriving in the Japanese capital, Emanuel suggested that an essential part of his job would entail countering China.

Emanuel had indicated he would serve the post only during President Joe Biden’s first term, saying the United States’ posture for the next 30 years would be determined by what it could build in partnership with Japan over the next three years.

From 2009 to 2010, Emanuel was chief of staff to President Barack Obama, whom Biden served as vice president.

Emanuel served as Chicago’s mayor for two terms from 2011 to 2019 and was a member of the House of Representatives from 2003 to 2009.

Biden abandoned his reelection bid last month, and Harris became the Democratic Party’s nominee for president about a week ago.

The 81-year-old president bowed out of the 2024 presidential race on July 21, following weeks of intraparty fighting over his fitness to serve another term and calls for him to pass the baton to a younger generation.

In state primaries and caucuses earlier this year, Biden won enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination. However, pressure for the incumbent to exit the race quickly intensified after he delivered a shaky performance in a televised debate against Trump in late June.

Harris, who is Black and Asian American, would be the first female U.S. president, as well as the first woman of color to hold the office. She has narrowed or erased Trump’s lead in a number of national polls and appears to be more formidable than Biden in key battleground states.