Japan deserves praise after hosting G7 Summit

TOKYO — Three cheers for the Kishida Government and the very impressive way they pulled off this G7 Summit, the first ever held in Hiroshima. World leaders sipped green tea, discussed climate change, AI, China, Russia and the war in Ukraine, and visited the A-Bomb museum in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Several guests from other countries including India and South Korea were invited.

 Japan’s estimation in the world went up several notches with this performance, which was capped off with a surprise visit by Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who stole the show. He said pictures in the museum reminded him of Bakhmut. This may go down as perhaps the best ever G7 Japan has hosted, although the Chinese  government was angered by the communique which expressed some concerns about China’s growing influence around the globe and accused the group of “hindering world peace.”

It all brought back memories of my first G-7 in Japan, Tokyo’s 1986 G-7. At the time Japan had become an economic superpower; It had flooded the world with its superior products at reasonable prices — cameras, TV sets, tape recorders and automobiles. The 1985 Plaza Accord, which revalued the yen with the world’s major currencies in an effort to slow down the onslaught of exports, made Japan the richest nation on Earth.

Before the decade was out Japan would boast the top 10 banks in the world and half the cash on the planet was in Japanese hands. The land on which the Imperial Palace stood was worth more than the state of California. Some Ginza restaurants served sushi flaked with gold dust. People flew to Sapporo for lunch, Hawaii for the weekend. The economic bubble eventually crashed. By the early 90’s Japan was in the midst of what some historians call its Lost Decade.  But it was a lot of fun while it lasted.

Here are some pics from G7, 1986, at the dawn of the Bubble era.