Bush wraps up trip to Japan, ban on U.S. beef not lifted yet

From the People's Daily Online - Roundup: Koizumi, Bush hails alliance, downplaying beef issue

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and visiting US President George W. Bush stressed Wednesday the importance to remain close allies and shrugged off the dispute on US beef imports. Emerging from an one hour and 15 minutes meeting, Koizumi told reporter that the Japan-US alliance in the global context was the "overriding" contents of their talks, describing the relationship with the United States was "indispensable" to Japan.