Posted May 25, 200619 yr Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi Expected to Visit Graceland Following is an article found in today's edition of The Commercial Appeal newspaper in Memphis, TN: Japan leader, Elvis fan, to tour Memphis Koizumi to visit after June 29 summit with Bush By Bartholomew Sullivan May 25, 2006 WASHINGTON -- Self-described Elvis "maniac" and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit Memphis and is expected to tour Graceland following a June 29 summit meeting with President Bush, according to the Japanese news agency Kyodo. The White House confirmed only the Washington leg of the trip on Wednesday. Spokesman Blair Jones said the he was unaware of whether the president planned to join Koizumi on a Graceland tour. Japanese Embassy press attache Yuka Ejima said Koizumi's "concrete itinerary," including the reported trip to Memphis, is still a work in progress. The premier, whose brother, Masaya, once ran the Elvis fan club in Yokohoma and was instrumental in erecting a Presley statue in Tokyo in 1987, impressed then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice in 2004 with his knowledge of the rock icon. The year before that, Koizumi reportedly sang Elvis songs in a duet with actor Tom Cruise while the latter was in Japan filming "The Last Samurai." In 2005, after a speech to the Asia Society in Sydney, Australia, Koizumi also sang along with the Australian foreign minister when an orchestra struck up "I Can't Help Falling In Love With You,' " according to the Web site Elvis Australia www.elvis.com.au. "After the performance, Koizumi mounted the stage and thanked the musicians for playing his 'favorite song,' and added, 'Since I became prime minister, I gave up falling in love,' " according to the Web story. Koizumi, who shares a Jan. 8 birthday with the King of Rock and Roll, said in 2001 that the coincidence is "one of the things I'm so proud of." Shortly after taking office in 2001, the popular but unlikely sex symbol with the "lion's mane" hairdo surprised his countrymen by releasing a CD of his 25 favorite Elvis hits, including "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You," "Are you Lonesome Tonight?" and "It's Now or Never." Proceeds went to a Japanese charity. He had already written a letter to a local Elvis fan club in which he said, "I never get tired of listening to his songs no matter how many times I hear them. ... Elvis is forever and so are his songs." Source:www.elvis.com/news
Create an account or sign in to comment