Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara met with a group of celebrities and private-sector executives on Wednesday in an unstructured get-together where a new idea to help pare the budget came up -- doing away with school lunches.
Ishihara, himself a best selling author, in July chose 18 of his well-known friends who work in Tokyo to occasionally come together and informally discuss the metropolis' problems.
Two manga artists, a former shogi champion, professors and company presidents -- many of whom share Ishihara's conservative bent -- were present at the meeting.