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A Friendship, on the Road to Graceland
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi -- who put out a CD of favorite Elvis songs to raise money for charity -- honored President Bush's 59th birthday by singing a verse from "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You" at a gala in Scotland.
(Bmg Japan Via Associated Press)
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"Japan feels alone in Asia," said Yukio Okamoto, Koizumi's former diplomatic adviser. "China is commanding the political hegemony of the continent, and our neighbors are constantly on a tirade against Japan. It is only the mighty nation on the other side of the Pacific that are friends to the Japanese. Koizumi recognized this more than anyone else."
Based in part on pragmatism, the Bush-Koizumi relationship is also a personal one. At Camp David, during their first meeting in June 2001, the Japanese leader famously took in Bush's casual cowboy boots and Western belt buckle before pointing to the president and blurting out the name of Koizumi's favorite movie -- "High Noon." Later in the day, the two were out on the grounds with baseball gloves, playing catch.
"Koizumi understood that Bush was a cowboy," said Takao Toshikawa, editor of Tokyo Insideline. "And Koizumi was a man who loved 'High Noon.' There's no question the two had chemistry."
Over the years, Koizumi was invited to Bush's ranch in Crawford, Tex., where former aides say the pair chatted poolside for hours with a single interpreter. Later, Koizumi -- who shares a birth date with Presley -- belted out more Elvis tunes.
On one trip to Japan, Bush took Koizumi a pair of initialed cowboy boots. Koizumi, for his part, publicly said he would not see Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" because it was "politically biased."
Although exceedingly different -- Koizumi is a 64-year-old divorc? who enjoys Kabuki theater and European operas -- the pair, analysts say, shared some similar traits. Koizumi is known to demand short, concise briefings, eschewing the lengthy bureaucratic updates typically endured by Japanese prime ministers. In a country long ruled by the politics of consensus, Koizumi is considered almost shockingly dismissive of opposing views.
The jostling to replace Koizumi is already on. The front-runners are Koizumi's hawkish chief cabinet secretary, Shinzo Abe, and the somewhat more dovish Yasuo Fukuda, a predecessor of Abe's. But neither has Koizumi's standout personality.
"Leaders make a difference, and the proof of that is Koizumi," said Schieffer, referring to the broad political and economic reforms Koizumi pushed through while in office. "He made a difference. Will someone else want to continue that same direction? We'll see, but I think that you cannot make the argument that Koizumi didn't make a difference."
