Rory Kennedy
Finance, 35 (Ireland)
Japan likes to think of the summits as the mini Olympics, but they are ignored by the rest of the world. Ultimately all that's going to be remembered this time around are Bush's parting comments.
Tomoko Ogawa
Television, 36
Nothing really gets done. The conclusions are based on how many cards each country holds. Japan has no cards to play against China and the U.S., so it only has a small stake in the power play.
Akio Kobayashi
Sales, 40
It's just a waste of time. At the first summit decades ago the members were the major global powers, but now it's just getting weaker and weaker. The G8 aren't the only ones that matter anymore.
Andrea Sorani
Finance, 35 (U.S.)
I think it's worthwhile to get leaders together and talking. However, the G8 concept's a bit antiquated, because it doesn't include really important countries like China, Brazil, India and Indonesia.
Tomoko Yamashita
Magazines, 25
I don't think that the annual G8 Summits are useful, because nothing's really decided in detail at the meetings themselves. They cost a lot to run — it's too expensive, really.
Arnaud Franquenk
Broker, 30 (France)
They could be. I think it's necessary at least to have the motivation to meet, but whether the leaders act on that is another story. Even if the summit's useless, that's better than just waiting and doing nothing.
