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Financial disclosure for John Roos, United States ambassador to Japan.

Article Excerpt
John Roos, the new ambassador to Japan, was CEO of the Silicon Valley law firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he worked since 1985. Obama's pick was not warmly praised in Japan. The Japanese press reported that the selection was a sign of disrespect to Japan, given that Roos was given the job because of his ability to raise $500,000 for Obama's presidential campaign. Roos has no diplomatic experience.

During his confirmation hearing in August before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Roos defended his appointment by stating that his firm "was intimately involved with the various waves of innovation sweeping the world, from the growth of software and communications to the Internet Age, from the emergence of biotechnology to the current focus on one of President Obama's top priorities," he said. "Not surprisingly, these are top priorities for Japan as well."

Upon the nomination, Obama said: "I made the determination that a person who I thought could best do this is somebody with superb judgment, somebody with an outstanding intellect, somebody who is a very close friend of mine and a close advisor."

Since arriving in Japan, Roos has been dealing with a new Japanese government that is combative toward the United States. Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa stated on Oct. 13 that Japan will stop supporting the United...

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