However, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has canceled his trip to Japan, amid the recent uproar over his taste for luxury suites and tycoons' yachts and jets.

But officially, his office is blaming the cancellation on lawmakers, who would be in no hurry to pass the trip proposals just tabled in the legislature.

Tsang had been scheduled to visit Tokyo and Sendai from May 14 to 16 for a Trade Development Council event.

Instead, he is sending Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Gregory So Kam-leung.

To avoid the further wrath of taxpayers, Tsang could always have stayed in one of Tokyo's famous - and relatively cheap - capsule hotels.