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Before Graceland, A Less-Publicized Stop At Walter Reed
Anything lost in translation here?
Ramsey said he congratulated Koizumi for Japan's participation in Iraq -- about 550 troops are there on noncombat missions -- and wished him a pleasant trip to Graceland, the Elvis Presley estate now used as a museum.
  Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, shown after touring Graceland last Friday with President Bush, spent part of the previous day with patients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. (By Rob Carr -- Associated Press) About This Column |
Sign Up for RSS Feed"Do you know any Elvis songs?" Koizumi wanted to know, and within seconds they were both belting out: "Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on."
Koizumi was accompanied by the Japanese ambassador, Ryozo Kato , and the U.S. ambassador to Tokyo, J. Thomas Schieffer , on his rounds last Thursday. The prime minister also visited Arlington National Cemetery, where he laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
A Starry Evening
The Japanese prime minister's feel-good, ultra-cool style is filtering down the ranks. Formality is out, touchy-feely is in.
Akitaka Saiki , the Japanese Embassy's deputy chief of mission, will hold a celebration this evening of Tanabata, the annual Festival of the Stars.
Tanabata stems from a myth about two lovers, stars personified as Hikoboshi, a cow herder, and Orihime, a weaver. The stars were separated by the Milky Way and can see each other only once a year, on July 7.
In ancient times, shrine maidens celebrated the day with hopes the rice crops would survive the summer typhoon season.
Nowadays, children and adults scribble wishes on multicolored bits of paper. The messages and origami decorations are suspended from bamboo trees.
Insight on the Iranians
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told Washington Post columnists and reporters Thursday that he saw a change of attitude among the Iranians about the most recent offer to resolve a standoff over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Iran has been offered a package by the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany that includes incentives such as nuclear expertise and reactors. It calls on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment for the duration of any talks, and spells out that there should be a long-term moratorium on such activity until the world community is convinced that Iran's nuclear goals are peaceful.
Gul, who said he had been involved in this issue at the behest of the Iranian government, noted that he could attest to their willingness to find a way out of the impasse.
"From the Iranian side, I see that they see the package is good. They see there is a change in the position and there is a real intention for a diplomatic solution," he said. "I met most of them, and they are forthcoming for a solution."
The Iranians have a "strange consultation mechanism since they are not all of the same opinion. . . . There is a dynamic for debate, and I have encouraged them to focus on the real change."
Gul said, however, that the Iranians were seeking guarantees that the suggested package of measures would be delivered.
