U.S. President George W. Bush's announcement that he will no longer hold "formal" press conferences in the East Room of the White House was met with derision and shrugs by the American press. On Salon.com, Gary Kamiya accused Bush of fleeing reporters "with his larynx between his legs," while Helen Thomas, the so-called dean of White House correspondents, told the same magazine that she can understand Bush's decision because he "does much better when he's relaxed, and he's not so relaxed in press conferences."

In either case, it's clear that the president feels his spin control is more effective in informal settings. And while it's easy to see where he's coming from, the move has reinforced the notion many people have that he's trying to project an image of himself as a working president without actually doing any work.

In Japan, government press conferences are a cinch. Thanks to the press clubs, most have the air of being scripted, which sounds bad only if you ignore the fact that even Diet debates are scripted. The place where reporters ask the difficult questions is in the corridors of power themselves, where journalists brandishing minirecorders and scribbling furiously in tiny notepads crowd around lawmakers as they make their way from one conference room to another, like a swarm of drones escorting the queen bee.