Krugman in Tokyo

French bank CLSA is putting on "a five-day gala gabfest" in Tokyo this week, according to Gwen Robinson. Along with expensive musical entertainment there's more highbrow stuff as well:

Among the 30-plus speakers being wheeled out for the assembled multitudes are Sir Bob Geldof; Paul Krugman - New York Times columnist and Princeton professor; Nassim Nicholas Taleb - author of the best-selling "The Black Swan" and professor at London Business School; Ian Ayres - author of "Super Crunches" and Yale professor...

Paul Krugman? That surprises me. Here's what he wrote shortly after becoming a NYT columnist:

I do very little paid speaking now, and no consulting, because the New York Times has quite strict rules: basically I can only get paid for speaking to nonprofits that have no possible interest in influencing the content of the column. It's a good rule - read Eric Alterman's book "Sound and Fury" to see how speaking fees can corrupt pundits - though it meant that I took a substantial income cut to work for the Times.

Probably Krugman is enjoying the gabfest on the NYT's dime (or Princeton's), and not being paid by CLSA. But I did have the impression he'd given up these kind of things entirely.