Obama names lawyer to Tokyo embassy

WASHINGTON, May 29 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama tapped John Roos, a major campaign fundraiser and head of a California law firm specializing in technology, as U.S. ambassador to Japan.

The president announced his choice Wednesday in a letter to Congress, Kyodo News Service reported. Obama listed his choices for 11 other ambassadorships, including the envoys to France and Britain.

At one point, Obama suggested he would name Joseph Nye, a former assistant secretary of defense and professor emeritus at Harvard, to the embassy in Tokyo. But he came down in favor of a political supporter who helped his campaign.

Roos became a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in 1988. He has been chief executive since 2005, spending most of his time managing the firm and its 1,200 employees.

Given his legal background, Roos is very familiar with trade issues between the United States and Japan, the report said.