Japan leader expected to tour Elvis' Graceland
By BARTHOLOMEW SULLIVAN
Scripps Howard News Service
May 25, 2006
- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, a self-described Elvis Presley "maniac," will visit Memphis and is expected to tour Graceland after 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 this week. 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."
Go here for the full article.
By BARTHOLOMEW SULLIVAN
Scripps Howard News Service
May 25, 2006
- Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, a self-described Elvis Presley "maniac," will visit Memphis and is expected to tour Graceland after 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 this week. 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."
Go here for the full article.
