REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK : For Japanese Journalist, a Fax Feat

Some people will go to a great deal of trouble for an early look at communiques at the economic summit. Take, for instance, the case of Kenji Hanyu, the Washington correspondent for Japan’s Jiji Press.

Hanyu was given a copy of Tuesday’s political statement at mid-morning, hours before its official release. The trouble, however, was that his copy was written in German and no one who spoke that language was at the home office in Tokyo.

Undeterred, Hanyu went to his fax machine and sent the statement to the agency’s German office. The translation began coming back a few minutes later.

Houston is paying a price for its summit glory. Thousands of people have been trapped when roads are closed for the heads of state to pass. One man, standing on the curb of a Houston street Monday, said he had been waiting for two hours to cross to the other side and pick up his wife.

Houston restaurants that were expecting a boom in business have been disappointed by the poor turnout, not only by summiteers but also by the locals, who apparently feared big crowds. One owner of a restaurant near the summit site at Rice University estimated he had lost $10,000 in business during the last four days.

Fans blow cold air up the legs of the heads of state when they assemble on the outdoor stage at Rice University. To avoid scenes suggestive of Marilyn Monroe in the movie “The Seven Year Itch,” British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher wears dresses with lead weights sewn into the seams.

While dozens of newspapers from around the globe are being distributed free at the summit, compliments of two Houston corporations, one publication is conspicuously excluded. That is the Houston Press, the alternative weekly that has been more critical of summit preparations than its local daily counterparts, the mainstream Houston Chronicle and Houston Post. Houston Press editors were told that their latest edition, with its “Howdy, Potentates” cover story, was too negative toward the summit and to Houston.

A local artist was miffed when President Bush declined to personally accept a portrait of him made out of straw. So he typed up a press release and put it under the windows of all the cars parked across the street from the Brown Convention Center, where the press is working.

“This is the story of an ordinary American’s effort to generate public interest to save an endangered art form from extinction,” said Rajan Koshy of his work.

Corporate America is certainly well represented at this year’s summit. According to the Summit Host Committee’s own estimate, the likes of General Motors and Continental Airlines have anted up a total of $12 million in cash, products or services. The international media is being given everything from calendars to acrylic summit mugs. There is so much loot, they are being given not one but two shoulder bags to carry it.