To go or not to go -- that may be the question for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Earlier this year, Koizumi declared his intention to join other world leaders at the World Summit on Sustainable Development. But concerns within the government about Koizumi's planned trip to Johannesburg began to grow after the collapse of the WSSD's ministerial-level preparatory meeting, which was held on the Indonesian resort island of Bali from late May through early June.
The summit will open in Johannesburg in late August and run through early September to mark the 10th anniversary of the so-called Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Topping the WSSD agenda will be poverty and underdevelopment.