"Weird" Koizumi breaks Japan political mould

TOKYO, June 26 (Reuters) He's crooned an Elvis hit with Tom Cruise, danced with Richard Gere and spoken of Viagra on TV.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has more than lived up to his image as an eccentric during his five years in office and now looks set to cement that reputation this week when he visits Graceland, home of rock'n'roll legend Elvis Presley in Memphis, Tennessee.

U.S. President George W. Bush is taking Koizumi -- an avid Elvis fan -- to Graceland to thank the Japanese leader for his efforts to strengthen their alliance and to express the close friendship that sprang up between the two almost from the start.

''Prime Minister Koizumi has been a lifelong (Elvis) fan. I think they talked about doing this for years, almost from the beginning of the relationship,'' U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Thomas Schieffer said recently about plan for the Graceland visit.

''I think the prime minister might have sung a few lines from an Elvis tune, maybe the first time they met.'' Koizumi, 64, is an Elvis devotee who not only shares a birthday with the ''king'', but selected his songs for a 2001 charity album: ''Junichiro Koizumi Presents My Favorite Elvis Songs''. The prime minister appears on the album's cover standing next to Elvis outside Graceland in a composite picture.

Koizumi will fly to Memphis with Bush and his wife Laura on Air Force One, and according to a Japanese Elvis fan club Web site, will be greeted by Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley, the late star's wife and daughter.

Koizumi's reputation as an eccentric long predates the Graceland visit, and his appetite for the odd even prompted a close political ally to call him a ''weirdo''.

But with an unerring instinct for voter preferences, he skilfully moulded that image into one of a reformer ready to smash the old guard's stranglehold on politics, rising to power in 2001 on a wave of public support.

Last year, he stunned his ruling party rivals by calling a snap election after they rejected bills to privatise the postal system -- a cherished Koizumi pet project -- and led the party and a clutch of fresh-faced candidates to a huge victory.

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