Jacko's Japanese Fans Pay $3,500 for Face Time

Tomorrow night Michael Jackson will give a whole new meaning to the term "golden handshake" when he greets Japanese fans prepared to pay terrific sums to press the flesh and have their photo taken with the troubled King of Pop.

Depending on how many hands he shakes, the 48-year-old singer, who is not expected to sing at the event, could walk away with enough cash to make a dent in his debts, reported to run into million of dollars.

Tomorrow he will attend a Premium VIP party at Shin Kiba Studio Coast for guests who have forked out up to $3,500 (£1,800) for a chat lasting 30 seconds to a minute.

Fans of more modest means can catch up with Jackson the following day, when he will eat brunch and have photos taken with the winners of a "fan art" competition. The cost: a mere 15,000 yen (£67).

Jackson's handlers in Japan refused to say how much the singer would be paid for his efforts and insisted that aesthetics, not finances, were uppermost in his mind.

"Over the years, as Michael Jackson has performed in cities around the world, he has been pleased, honoured, and impressed by the large amount of fan art of him," organiser Broderick Morris told the Associated Press.

"He would like to meet fan artists, and more fully appreciate and enjoy their creative expressions."

It is the second time Jackson has turned to his loyal Japanese following for support since he was acquitted, in June 2005, of molesting a 13-year-old boy. He last visited the country in May 2006, when he accepted the Legend Award from MTV Japan.

Jackson, who has spent most of his time living overseas since his acquittal, has called Japan is "one of my favourite places in the entire world". For their part, the Japanese don't seem to have tired of the singer.

He was mobbed by hundreds of screaming fans on his arrival at Tokyo's Narita Airport on Sunday and again earlier this week, when he turned up at one of Tokyo's biggest electronics stores for a late-night shopping binge.

Bic Camera closed its doors as usual at 10pm but allowed Jackson the freedom of the store until half past midnight. That did not stop hundreds of fans from waiting outside for the singer, who waved to them before being whisked away in a van.

But there are signs that, even in Japan, the Jackson bandwagon is suffering from mission creep: yesterday organisers admitted that an undisclosed number of tickets for the VIP event remained unsold.

Earlier this year he said: "My fans in Japan helped me achieve historic milestones in the music industry." They may be about to do wonders for his bank balance, too.