
TOKYO -- Back when Yukio Okamoto was a diplomat, his suit jacket was always draped over the back of his chair at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo. As director of the First North America Division, he kept a direct line with the U.S. State Department.
But visitors, reporters and superiors learned over time that they were fooled. No, he was not in the building. Instead, he was either walking the halls of the lawmakers' office building, or even thousands of kilometers away in Washington.