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TOKYO (AP) — Caroline Kennedy is stepping down after three years as U.S. ambassador to Japan.
The daughter of the late President John F. Kennedy had been welcomed to Japan like a celebrity. She worked to deepen the U.S.-Japan relationship, despite regular flare-ups over U.S. military bases on the island of Okinawa.
Donald Trump's transition team has said that all envoys who were political appointees must step down by Inauguration Day on Friday. Trump has not named a new ambassador yet.
Kennedy ruffled some feathers early in her tenure by tweeting her opposition to Japan's dolphin hunt. It came shortly after her embassy expressed "disappointment" that Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had visited a shrine that memorializes World War II war criminals, among others.
During her time, though, the conservative Japanese leader found common ground with the Obama administration.
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136-c-09-(Ken Moritsugu (mor-eet-SOO'-goo), AP correspondent)-"very difficult one"-AP correspondent Ken Moritsugu that as U.S. ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy grappled with growing Japanese opposition to the large American military base on Okinawa. (18 Jan 2017)
<<CUT *136 (01/18/17)££ 00:09 "very difficult one"
137-c-19-(Ken Moritsugu (mor-eet-SOO'-goo), AP correspondent)-"the same issue"-AP correspondent Ken Moritsugu reports Caroline Kennedy's legacy as ambassador includes having facilitated President Obama's historic visit to Hiroshima last May. (18 Jan 2017)
<<CUT *137 (01/18/17)££ 00:19 "the same issue"
APPHOTO BKWS312: FILE - In this April 24, 2014, file photo, attended by U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy and her husband Edwin Schlossberg, right, President Barack Obama tours Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. Kennedy is stepping down Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017 after three years as U.S. ambassador to Japan, where she was welcomed like a celebrity and worked to deepen the U.S.-Japan relationship despite regular flare-ups over American military bases on the southern island of Okinawa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) (24 Apr 2014)
<<APPHOTO BKWS312 (04/24/14)££
APPHOTO BKWS311: FILE - In this April 24, 2014, file photo, President Barack Obama sits with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, left, during a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Akasaka State Guest House in Tokyo. Kennedy is stepping down Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017 after three years as U.S. ambassador to Japan, where she was welcomed like a celebrity and worked to deepen the U.S.-Japan relationship despite regular flare-ups over American military bases on the southern island of Okinawa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) (24 Apr 2014)
<<APPHOTO BKWS311 (04/24/14)££
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