For Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, his summit meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday could not have been more different than what he had envisioned three weeks ago.
Then, the focus of the meeting was expected to be reaffirming bilateral ties frayed in the wake of the sinking of a Japanese fishing vessel by a U.S. Navy submarine off Hawaii, and little else.
The meeting itself was set at the strong request of Mori, hoping it might help mitigate strong calls by lawmakers in Japan's ruling coalition for him to resign over a string of gaffes and scandals.
But over the following days, Mori agreed to step down, raising questions about whether he, as a lame-duck prime minister, should even make the summit trip. Then global stock prices dived, shifting the focus of the talks to Japan's foundering economy.