President Bush fell ill on the final day of a Group of Eight summit with a stomach ailment.
"Not sure if it's a stomach virus yet or something like that, but he's just not feeling well in the stomach and guess he didn't want to follow in the footsteps of his father in Asia," White House counselor Dan Bartlett said.
In January 1992, President George Bush, the father of the current US leader, vomited and collapsed during a state dinner at Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa's residence.
Mr Bush hops to return to summit meetings later in the day and kept a scheduled bilateral meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but in his private quarters.
"I have just come out of a meeting with president Bush who is slightly unwell," Mr Sarkozy told reporters. "He will join the working session when he can."
Mr Bush is due to travel from Germany to Poland later today.