The Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan seemed to be an odd choice for Janet Jackson's press conference, not that her being in town for the Japan leg of the "All for You" world tour didn't count as news -- the banquet room was packed with reporters and TV crews. But Jackson isn't the kind of news personality the FCCJ normally presents. And considering her somewhat opaque public persona and tendency to spout biz cliches when describing her music (in the promo video for the tour, she says that she "just wants people to have fun" three times), it was unlikely that the event would offer any insight or, for that matter, gossip.

But, apparently, that was OK with the press. So thank God for FCCJ Treasurer George Baumgartner, who acted as master of ceremonies. Reading a self-penned statement that commented glowingly on every phase of the singer's career and exhausting his thesaurus's list of synonyms for "beautiful," he called Jackson "Virgin's golden girl" (take that, Mariah Carey!), the "highest paid musical performer" in the world (latest recording contract: $90 million) and a star whose 15-year success has "eclipsed that of her older brother Michael."

Aside from these ostensibly journalistic observations, Baumgartner's effusive, often hilarious, introduction ("let me be politically incorrect and offer you these flowers") provided advantages to parties on both sides of the dais. To the reporters, most of whom worked for legitimate news organs, it offered a break from the normal FCCJ fare of "politicians and business leaders." For Jackson and her entourage, it was a way of advancing her material accomplishments without their having to pass between her own well-glossed lips.