Fans moonwalk to honor Jackson, wait for tribute

PARIS — Mourning Michael Jackson fans lauded his talent, moonwalked in his honor, sang his lyrics and awaited word Monday on the possibility of a global memorial to the King of Pop.

In Paris, fans and Jackson lookalikes held what they claimed was the world's biggest moonwalk, organized via Facebook. Gliding backwards beneath the Eiffel Tower, they sang, cheered and chanted Sunday in homage to the singer, who died Thursday in Los Angeles.

"Michael forever in our hearts," read one banner.

American singer Usher, at designer Lanvin's Paris menswear show, called Jackson an inspiration.

"If I did not know Michael Jackson, I would not be who I am today," he said. "He has been an inspiration to all of us as a humanitarian, as a philanthropist, as a father, as a man, as an entertainer."

Across China, thousands of fans held vigils for Jackson in several cities. In Malaysia, hundreds gathered at a Kuala Lumpur shopping mall Sunday to sing along to Jackson songs and sign a banner with condolences while Jackson impersonators performed. Another 200 fans held a candlelight vigil in a Tokyo park.

Beijing Television planned a special Jackson broadcast for Thursday. One member of the Michael Jackson fan club in China's central Sichuan province urged fans to organize an event on Aug. 29, Jackson's birthday, while another posted details of a tentative Jackson vigil on Friday in Inner Mongolia.

In Japan, a scholar reflected on the Jackson's historic significance.

"Which was the bigger step for mankind — Apollo 11 or Michael's moonwalk?" asked Yoshiaki Sato, who studies American culture, in an opinion piece in Monday's Yomiuri newspaper.

The U.S. won the Cold War not through military might but through the charm of artists like Jackson, he said, whose songs introduced people in the former Soviet states, the Middle East and China to the greatness of American culture.

"His death, like Presley's, may not have been fitting of a hero. But his life will shine on in world history," he said.

In Turkey, the Association for Dialogue between Religions, Languages and Civilizations held Islamic prayers and handed out traditional sweets Sunday for Jackson in Mercimekli, a southeastern village.

"Michael Jackson was a living legend not only in America and the Christian world but the Islamic world too," Mehmet Ali Aslan, the head of the association, was quoted as saying.