The Cambridge City Council last night had more items on the tables than on the floor.

Reluctant to address any controversial legislation with Mayor Leonard I Russell and Councilor Alfred E. Vellucci visiting Cambridge's sister city in Japan, the members of the city government still in the country last night simply tabled important measures that arose.

But last week councilors had also put off discussion of controversial legislation since both Councilor David E. Sullivan and Councilor Walter J. Sullivan were absent from the chamber on vacation.

So the city's governing body ad journed last night without resolving measures ranging from proposed zoning changes to appropriations for renovation of a building in East Cambridge.

The councilors, however, said they had no complaints about their travels. Vellucci last week said he had printed up business cards in Japanese to prepare for his visit to Yatabe Tsukuba Science City, a newly formed high technology community near Tokyo.

Science City is the sister community of Cambridge, a relationship set up through a government program designed to foster communication and cultural exchange Officials from the city visited Cambridge Last year.

The vacationers too raved to their colleagues about the world beyond the Charles a bronzed Walter Sullivan said his trip to Del Ray Beach Florida, with half of his eight grandchildren, "was super just super."

And David Sullivan (no relation) said he had enjoyed a week long stay in England, especially the municipal museum in Oxford. He added that he would now fight to build a similar information center in the renovated Harvard Square.

"Having been a tourist myself, I can testify to how nice it is to have a place to get information about a new city," David Sullivan said.