But like the Bush visits of 2002, it did not go exactly as planned.

Others, however, view the Bush visit as a chance for their city to stand tall.

In other words, from the European perspective, the Bush visit could not have gone better.

If past practice is any indication, he will try to use the Bush visit to cow his opponents, many within his own party.

Japanese power brokers also recognized the drumbeat and moved quickly to pre-empt an embarrassing confrontation during the Bush visit.

The Bush visit had little appeal to some Eastern European regimes that regard all change as threatening.

"We came to register our protest against the Bush visit," said Rais Khan, a real estate agent.

"The Japanese will have a tough time intervening before Bush visits in October," said one financial markets analyst at a Japanese bank.

Protests demanding the cancellation of the Bush visit had started over a week before his scheduled arrival.

The company's decision not to pay most of the workers during the Bush visit was first reported on Friday in The Omaha World-Herald.