YOKOHAMA, JAPAN—There’s no lake like a fake lake, or so it seems for Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Thoughts of the infamous fake lake in Toronto—a factor in the $1 billion price tag for the summits in June — were unavoidable when Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama gathered with other leaders at the Asian-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum here.

The leaders’ retreat at the APEC summit in Japan features an elaborate bamboo forest and a semi-circle of leaders’ chairs set in front of a deep blue fish pond surrounded by rocks. Curious leaders soon discovered that while, the bamboo was real, the Koi pond was not.

High-definition panels were set in the floor with virtual fish darting about in a fake pond. A bamboo well appeared to tip water into the fake pond, startling the fake fish, which scattered in fake terror.

As Harper walked over for a look, Obama called out, “Stephen, don’t fall in.”

“It’s fake goldfish,” Harper observed.

“It’s all video,” Obama commented. “Fascinating.”

“There’s got to be a political story in here somehow,” Harper remarked, perhaps remembering the imitation dock, deck chairs, canoes and video of Muskoka around the fake lake at Exhibition Place in Toronto.

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