The G8 Foreign Ministers Meeting was held this year in Kyoto, on June 26 and 27th. The Group of Eight, consisting of the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, and the UK, take turns hosting the different meetings and final summit, and this year it just happened to be in Japan. While the final summit took place in Toyako, Hokkaido, hundreds of miles away from where I am in Osaka, the Foreign Ministers Meeting was held in Kyoto, a mere 15 minute ride away by Shinkansen. Because it was being held in our consular jurisdiction, the US Consulate Osaka-Kobe was responsible for preparing for the arrival of the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, as well as running the press filing center (PFC) for Secretary Rice’s traveling press and any other American journalists.

Most of these duties, especially the ‘S’ visit (as it was called) fell on the lap of the Public Affairs office to take care of. Thats my section! For the week or so leading up to the foreign ministers meeting, my boss was living in the hotel where our PFC would be, and where S would be staying. In the office I was doing things like preparing the welcome packs for the traveling press or packing away all the flags in the building to be used for the PFC and for any photo ops that would occur for S. Originally I was going to go out on Tuesday of that week to help physically set up the PFC, but they ended up not needing me for that. Instead, I headed to the Hotel Okura in Kyoto in the consular van with a bunch of other FSO’s (foreign service officers) for a meeting with S’s advance team on Wednesday afternoon. They had arrived in Osaka a few days before, and had already been to the consulate for a Japan-wide video conference to plan for S’s arrival. Now we were having the last ‘countdown’ meeting before she showed up on Thursday morning. I really didn’t do much during this meeting besides try to stay awake and look like I was listening intently.

After the meeting I was able to visit the PFC for the first time. Basically, it was one of the smaller ballrooms in the hotel that we had divided into two areas. One area (which would be used by the journalists) just had a bunch of tables, each with telephones, and a large TV on in the back with some satellite channel on. There was also a table for refreshments. On the other side, which would be reserved for the PFC staff (i.e. people from the consulate, mostly) had computers, printers, copy/fax machines, and another television. I helped out with a few last-minute data entry type tasks while other people from my office finished setting everything up. Around 6pm I took the train back to my apartment.

The next day, Thursday the 26th, was the official start of the Foreign Ministers meeting. Secretary Rice would be arriving around 10am that morning, and since we had already set up the PFC the night before, it meant we just had to sit around and wait for her and her press corp. Her plane was mostly on time, and when she arrived at the hotel, sadly the PFC staff was ushered out into the hallway so that S could make a statement to her traveling press corp. Not really sure why we couldn’t sit in on it, but thats how it was. She arrived with more than half a dozen Secret Service officers, and I managed to get a few pictures but the only one that came out well (since I was sort of doing it as inconspicuously as possible) was of her back. But, when finished with her briefing, she did come back out to the hallway and greeted us all. And then it was straight to her room on the very top floor of the hotel (which was completely reserved for her and the Ambassador) for several hours of personal time before her first bilateral meeting with I think the foreign minister from Canada.

The rest of Thursday would have been spent sitting around in the PFC killing time if I hadn’t been able to go on a site visit/inspection to the Kyoto International Conference Center with some of the Tokyo Embassy staff who were working in the PFC. The Kyoto ICC would be where all the Foreign Ministers would meet for a press conference on Friday afternoon. For now, they were holding meetings at the Kyoto State Guest House, which I didn’t have the credentials to get into. The Kyoto ICC was a massive building built in the 60’s that had an almost shrine-inspired exterior, albeit in cement and steel. Part of the ICC was off limits to anyone not in the minister’s parties, and would be used by the dozens of journalists from around the world as their press filing centers. Because the US is part of the G8, we actually had tables set aside for us at the ICC to use, but since we had our own PFC at the Hotel Okura, we didn’t bother.

After the quick visit with the (Japanese) Ministry of Foreign Affairs to assure everything was in order for the Secretary’s arrival on Friday, we had a quick walk through of the place before being driven back to the Okura in one of the press vehicles. We were stopped at a light for a duration while some country’s delegation was given a police escort to the Kyoto State Guest House. By the time we got back to the hotel it was getting close to 6pm, but I decided to wait around a while to go out to eat with the other PFC staffers. We went to a pizza place a few blocks away from the hotel and enjoyed some wine and pizza together. My boss was even able to show up after she had finished up with everything at the KSGH. But because I had a 1+ hour train ride to get back to my apartment (and everyone else had been put up at the hotel), I decided to cut out around 9pm so that I could get home with some time to relax before I had to hit the sack.

Friday morning started similarly to Thursday: riding the train to Kyoto, walking to the hotel, sitting in the PFC for a while twiddling my thumbs. Luckily around lunch time I was able to eat a quick lunch with my coworker Nakanishi-san before we raced over to the Kyoto ICC to prepare for the press conference. We had rushed through lunch a bit early because on Thursday everyone had gone without food for quite a few hours in the rush following the Secretary’s arrival, and we weren’t sure what the food situation would be at the ICC. Naturally, when we did arrive, the first thing we did was find the cafeteria which was serving all kinds of free food for the journalists. We enjoyed a few desserts before I was ushered into the main press filing center to pick up a bag filled with free goodies (more on that later).

I would then spend the next several hours sitting in the main hall of the ICC reserving a spot for the official White House photographer among the other photographers and cameramen in attendance. It was a bit boring but I got to watch all the various nation’s traveling press trickle into the seating area, and eventually all the foreign ministers appeared on stage. The US photographer was late so I got to spend the beginning of the press conference pretty much front and center for everything. Eventually he did come and I was kicked out of my spot, but I got to move to the other side of the room where the US press and consular staff were sitting. The official journalists were lucky in that they were given instantaneous translation headsets, but it didn’t turn out to be much of an issue as almost every question was asked to Secretary Rice or the Japanese foreign minister. I think the UK guy had a question directed his way as well, but poor France, Canada, Italy, Germany and Russia were ignored when journalists asked about the US delisting N. Korea from its list of terrorists states, how the US would continue working to return abducted Japanese citizens from N. Korea, and I think there were a few Iraq questions thrown in as well for good measure. Eventually the journalists had to leave to rush back to the Kyoto State Guest House for the next event, and I was able to grab one of the headsets and listen to the rest of the press conference.

When everything was over and the foreign ministers had returned to their segregated side of the ICC to await their police-escorts to the KSGH, my two coworkers and I (Nakanishi and Matsumura, who both work in the PAS office in Osaka) wandered around the now-empty journalist side of the ICC and picked up some more free stuff. Sadly the cafe had been shut down so there were no free desserts left for us to eat. Eventually we took the journalist’s van back to the PFC, where I then twiddled my thumbs again for a few hours until I was told I could leave around 6pm!

The Press Filing Center inside the Hotel Okura on the day before the G8 Foreign Ministers Meeting began. I made those signs!

These are my credentials that gave me access to the Kyoto International Conference Center. The top card designates me as part of the Secretary of State’s delegate! I was the only intern in the whole consulate who got to visit the ICC and the only one who actually got to be in the hotel during the two days the meeting was taking place! I’m really glad that I got the opportunity to go because I know the other interns were quite jealous!

The only picture of the Secretary that I got that wasn’t completely blurry. (Yeah thats her in the black suit walking out of the room and about to turn towards me.) I wasn’t sure if it was ok to take a picture of her or not when she arrived at the PFC, and I didn’t want to see too rude, so I just stuck my camera to my hip and set it to continuous mode and took a bunch of pictures without being noticed. You can see the Secret Service guy is totally looking at me in this shot though.

A pretty river that I had to cross each day in route to the hotel. If you click on it to see it full size, there is a white bird standing in the river in the lower right corner.

Here you can see the exterior of the Kyoto ICC. It’s really quite ugly!

Large room serving as a press filing center for everyone but the US delegate.

The main conference hall empty and later filled with journalists.

The ministers arrive.

Condoleezza Rice was the only person NOT wearing a black suit on stage. I thought it was nice and really made her stand out, also as one of only two female foreign ministers. She also brought her own headset so she didn’t look like a dork with a giant gray thing covering her ear the entire time.

A view of where I was stationed for a couple of hours saving a spot for the official White House photographer.

After the press conference was finished:

In the lobby of the ICC, the world’s largest HD television. 103 inches!

To celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the writing of the Tale of Genji, they had examples of Heian-period dress that you could actually try on (I wanted to but didn’t have time to). Also, a really cool miniature of a house/palace from that time period as well!

A picture of all the goodies I received! This included bags, tshirts, fans, books, DVD’s, CD’s, pens and pencils, pads of paper, clear files, and food! And one more thing….

Hmm what could be in this package…..

A wooden box with gold lettering! Pretty cool but, whats inside?

A silk furoshiki with a scene from the Tale of Genji on it! Its really so pretty I can’t see myself using it to wrap things up or carry anything around. Maybe I’ll frame it…..