Lavish wining and dining a PR disaster

G8:THE LAST time Japan hosted a G8 conference, it shot itself in the foot by throwing one of the most expensive parties in history just as the rich countries struggled over debt relief to Africa.

All the signs are that the host nation will again be limping away from this year's event. Okinawa 2000 cost Tokyo a staggering $750 million (€480 million), by some margin the most expensive G8 ever. Hokkaido so far has cost a reported $500 million (€320 million) though the final tally is likely to be higher.

Half that bill is accounted for by the massive security operation, including 21,000 police drafted from across Japan and another 20,000 deployed elsewhere.

Another €83 million was spent on a lavish media centre, built in a mountainous ski resort and connected by fibre-optic cable to the leaders' hotel miles away. Millions more have been spent promoting Hokkaido's tourism industry.

But the real PR disaster is turning out to be the Windsor Hotel, from where stories of Marie Antoinette-style extravagance have leaked out to the media, sparking predictable outrage.

Last night, the G8 leaders and their wives sat down to a lavish meal of caviar, truffle and milk-fed lamb cooked by a team of chefs flown into Hokkaido.

The meal, faithfully translated into detailed English by the hosts, was washed down with champagne, sake and vintage wine.

Some commentators pointed out yesterday that Japanese dinners are light, dainty affairs, so foreign reports of 18 courses may have been misleading.

But with warnings aired throughout this summit that 100 million people are sinking into poverty and starvation, the damage has been done.

As Oxfam noted, the cost of the three-day event would pay for 100 million malaria nets.

"Don't they know how this looks?" said one campaigner.