Elvis 30 years on: in full

The sun never sets on Elvis. The global reach of the King ensured that commemorations, from the frankly commercial to the gaudily personal, unfolded across the world today as dawn broke on the 30th anniversary of the singer's death.

Seven thousand miles from Graceland, and braving the hottest day in recorded Japanese history, Kurumi Nakamura made sure she was among the first in the world to mark the day with all the honour she believes it deserves.

August 16, declared Mrs Nakamura “is not a day of mourning, but a happy, happy day of memories", as she laid a wreath on the bronze feet of her hero in central Tokyo.

Every year, Mrs Nakamura makes the same pilgrimage to Harajuku — the kooky, fashionable ghetto of central Tokyo where Elvis is enshrined as an imposing bronze statue.

Her commitment is total. In her home, not an inch of wall-space is without some image of The King, every night, she settles down to watch a recording of one of his concerts or one of the many films Elvis starred in. If her husband is jealous of her idol-worship, she said, “he keeps it locked away in his heart like a Japanese man should”.

After pensively admiring the statue for a few moments, Mrs Nakamura dived into Love Me Tender, the Elvis memorabilia shop next door, and a place she visited just three days ago. She emerged some minutes later with a special edition box-set of Follow That Dream and Clambake.

Mrs Nakamura is a card-carrying member of Japan’s official Elvis fan club — one of the largest fan bases outside the US. Its chief adviser, and the man behind the bronze statue is Masaya Koizumi, the younger brother of Japan’s former Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi.

Elvis fandom is something of a Koizumi family business. Even when he was at the helm of the world’s second largest economy, Junichiro was unable to keep his adoration of Elvis far beneath the surface. Within his first year of power, Mr Koizumi released a CD of his favourite Elvis songs: in his last weeks as Prime Minister, he made sure that a valedictory trip to visit President Bush included a tour of Graceland.

The continuing draw of Elvis — his rare ability among dead singers to win new fans — made him the highest-earning dead celebrity for many years. Although he has slipped behind Kurt Cobain, the Nirvana frontman, the income from official Elvis enterprises earned $40 million for CKX Inc., the New York-based company that controls most of his estate last year.

It also ensures the viability of exhibitions, impersonators, shops and shrines that trade on his memory around the world. The King spent 18 months in the German town of Bad Nauheim, when he was serving with the US military in the late 1950s, long enough to leave behind an Elvis-Presley-Platz and a festival in his honour.

The 6th European Elvis Festival opened today in the town with the largest collection of original Elvis memorabilia ever assembled outside the US. The display, which includes car keys, sunglasses, deodorant cans and a bottle of antacid owned by the singer is expected to draw hundreds of fans. It helped prompt Franz Josef Wagner, a columnist for the newspaper Bild, to recall the “most radical person of the 20th century" today.

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