By Sean O'Grady

"Transparency" is the word on every financial minister's lips just now, but so far as the press is concerned, there isn't a lot of evidence of it here at the G7 in Tokyo. Take the finance ministers of the world's two largest economies, the US and Japan. This is the "transparency" they're offering the world:
"The two ministers had a frank exchange of views on such topics as the global economy, US and Japanese economy (sic), financial markets and climate change. They agreed to continue to cooperate closely and to maintain a good working relationship."
From which we may infer that they didn't agree on much, but they're not going to tell you what or why. Like I say, not very transparent.