Japan PM has "banned" US beef for lunch with Bush

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/T213575.htm

SAVANNAH, Ga., June 8 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, showing he himself had no qualms about U.S. beef -- banned in Japan due to concerns over mad cow disease -- ate beef tenderloin when he lunched with President George W. Bush on Tuesday.

"The beef was delicious. And the prime minister ate it too," said a senior Japanese official who accompanied Koizumi to the lunch at the Georgia resort of Sea Island ahead of the Group of Eight nations summit.

Tokyo, who was the biggest foreign buyer of U.S. beef, imposed a ban on U.S. beef imports after the first case of mad cow disease was found in the United States in December. The move has also hit the Japanese, for example causing a popular dish of rice topped with beef and onions to disappear from the menus of many Japanese restaurants.

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[Don_G]

1. I Suspect

Japan found a cheaper source and a way to break the US contracts with a legitimate excuse.

[htuttle]

2. After lunch, Koizumi returned the favor once granted by Bush Sr..

...And puked it all up in George W Bush's lap. "Arigato Gozaimasu!", stated Koizumi, as he picked a bit of chopped onion off of his chin, "Relay that to your father from former PM Miyazawa."

[sui generis]

3. I would have probably served

scientific whale meat -- it is a delicacy you know.