A giggling Attorney General Janet Reno expressed amazement Thursday over a U.S. tabloid newspaper story that Japanese men would rather be shipwrecked on a deserted island with her than any other woman.
"That's just amazing," the 59-year-old Reno said after her weekly Justice Department news briefing when asked by a reporter for her reaction to the article.Reno, who once described herself as an "awkward old maid," laughed as she then left the room.
The Weekly World News, in its Nov. 25 edition, put a picture of Reno apparently wearing a swimsuit on its cover with the headline, "U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno . . . as you've NEVER seen her before!"
The Tokyo-datelined story said a recent survey of 12,500 Japanese men between the ages of 21 and 58 found that 78 percent of those polled picked Reno as their top choice when asked with whom they wanted to be stranded on an island.
Justice Department spokesman Bert Brandenburg later told reporters that Reno requested her own copy of the story after being told about it by one of her top aides, who subscribes to the tabloid.
"She loved it. She's getting it for her scapbook," he said.
Brandenburg noted that Reno's story was considered bigger news than another article in the paper claiming that photographs prove Elvis Presley is alive.
The article quoted a Tokyo business executive as calling Reno "as beautiful as a flower. Janet Reno takes my breath away." A college student said she should be in Playboy magazine.
But the story also quoted an unnamed Florida lawyer who once worked with Reno. "Janet Reno is a wonderful woman and a very fine attorney, but a sexpot? I don't think so."