OK, I don’t think this is exactly hot-off-the-press, but I just heard about it and I am ROFL. Elvis and Koizumi share a birthday… January 8th.
Summits between US President George W Bush and Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi always attract a great deal of attention.
But while their talks on Thursday in Washington will be duly noted and reported, it is day two of the visit that most people are waiting for.
Mr Bush and Mr Koizumi are going to Graceland.
In what is widely seen as a thank you gesture to an outgoing ally, the US president is escorting Mr Koizumi to Memphis, Tennessee, where the two men will become the first leaders still in office to tour the home of rock and roll legend Elvis Presley.
It is a gesture that will delight Mr Koizumi, known both at home and abroad as a huge Elvis fan. He has sung his songs to world leaders, sung duets with celebrities and even released a CD of his favourite classics.
“I love Elvis,” he told the 5,000 strong Elvis Presley Fan Club in Tokyo in 2001. “I never get tired of listening to his songs no matter how many times I hear them.”
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Mr Koizumi’s enthusiasm for Elvis dates from his childhood. He says the first English song he ever learned was “I Want You, I Love You, I Need You”.
It is something he shares with his younger brother, Masaya, now senior adviser to the Tokyo fan club. In 1987, the two brothers helped finance the construction of a statue of Elvis which now stands in central Tokyo’s Harajuku district.
And in 2001, just a few months after taking office, Mr Koizumi released a CD of personally selected Elvis classics.
BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | Graceland visit for Elvis’ biggest fan
