G8 Summit in Hokkaido

The Hokkaido Summit is over, nothing much was achieved, for the leaders themselves, I’d rate them a C+ on performance, and maybe a B+ for following through with some of the commitments they said they would do, but altogether it was a rater unimpressive Summit on the part of the leaders. They really need to get their act together if they want to retain or regain any legitimacy as an international institution.

That, of course, is not to say I didn’t have a good experience.

Where to start? Well, I am well impressed with Hokkaido and the area that we stayed in. The International Media Centre (IMC) was located in a ski resort called Rusutsu. When we first arrived to our chalet, the surroundings were not unlike Blue Mountain in Ontario, or a very scaled back version of Whistler. It was incredibly beautiful with rolling hills and lots of greenery, but not the scene I think of when I think Japan, and certainly after Tokyo it was quite a bit different. The chalet the 24 odd students stayed in was very gorgeous, practical, and Western. Wood furnishings everywhere, every kind of appliance we could want or need, the most comfortable beanbag chairs and sofas, widescreen television, wireless and it was only two people per room. The space was incredible, and needless to stay it was a very different experience to my last Summit experience in Rostock.

The group dynamics this year were also quite good, making the experience even more worthwhile. There were a good 21 students of us from U of T, we had two English students from Oxford join us, and a girl from Holland doing a Master’s thesis on the G8 and EU. We all got on wonderfully.

As for the IMC, it too was certainly more impressive than Germany. Prime Minister Fukuda wanted to push for a ‘Green” Summit, and he certainly didn’t pull out the stops. The IMC was powered by solar panels, and the air conditioning and toilets used 70 tonnes of snow gathered from the previous winter. We also got some amazing swag, the best being a beautiful Citizen watch that is solar powered. Coming in second would be the USB flashlight that can be charged through the computer…certainly beats the frisbees and towels we got last year. There was an eco house on display, as well as eco-cars that we could test drive…all around an interesting experience. The IMC was attached to a big hotel, which dished out some fabulous sushi, hamburgers, and everything else. With the amount of security the Japanese pumped into this, it is no wonder that the price tag for the Summit was over $550 million. Interestingly, the Gleneagles Summit in Scotland only cost about $2.5 million. The security was ridiculous and absolutely unnecessary. There were about 3,000 protesters and 27, 000 police. But there were really cool beer pouring machines.

The Japanese media are somewhat crazy. My first day there I got interviewed about four times…everything from climate changes, to the first wives, to the local cheese (which was quite good). Yes, I made my debut on Japanese national television, but not sure if we have a recording. It got really intense after awhile because it was difficult to work when our pictures were constantly being taken. Things got really crazy on the last day when one of the Oxford students messed up his back and had to get a stretched out. On the plus side, his medical expenses are covered when in the IMC, on the bad side, it happened in the IMC and the media went wild. You would have thought that all the G8 leaders and their wives got assassinated with all the commotion. In retrospect it is all rather funny, but quite a crazy experience nonetheless.

As for leaders, I didn’t see as many as I did last year. I saw Prime Ministers Fukuda, Brown, and Rudd. The most impressive was Kevin Rudd…Australia was invited to the Summit by Japan. I also love Kevin Rudd, and want him to immigrate to Canada and become our prime minister. I didn’t get the chance to ask him unfortunately. I also got to see most of the first wives. The media here were obsessed with them too. I got a great shot of 4 of them as they were getting out of eco friendly cars. They all seemed to like Harper’s wife, Loreen, quite a bit. The press were very disappointed the Carla Bruni (sp?) was absent. Merkel’s husband was absent, but no one really seemed to care.

So all in all, a great Summit experience. Back in Tokyo now, trying to figure out what to do. Getting geared up for China. I don’t have a place to stay tonight, but I think I’ll manage. I think I’ll climb Mt. Fuji.

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