Foreign journalists in Japan have expressed concern to the Foreign Ministry about the high cost of hotel accommodations for July's Group of Eight summit in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture.
The Foreign Press in Japan, a group within the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan comprising non-Japanese journalists, said in a recent letter to the ministry's Summit Secretariat that its 200-odd members from 150 to 160 foreign news organizations "are finding it difficult to locate hotel rooms close to the summit at affordable prices."
"The host country is responsible for providing the working press with proper working conditions and acceptable logistics," the letter says. "It was Japan's decision to locate the bulk of the meetings in Okinawa Prefecture and (it) thus needs to ensure that it can meet these conditions at the location it has chosen to hold this important meeting."