The craze that the Backstreet Boys intended to stir with their promotional jaunt around the world in 100 hours got out of hand in Tokyo on Saturday. At least 1,000 fans staked out spots in Tokyo's Narita airport to greet the Boys upon their arrival. Ten fans were injured in a crowd surge when the group boarded a bus headed for Tokyo's Bay Area. Once there, the Boys performed an a capella version of their single "Shape of My Heart," from their new album Black & Blue. They also answered questions from the press and met with fans.

"We are in the making of history," Brian Littrell told reporters in Japan. "Nobody has done this before. We appreciate the fan support, because if it wasn't for the fans we wouldn't have these countries to go to."

The band started the whirlwind promotional tour on Nov. 17 via a twenty-eight-seat 737 jet that took them to Stockholm before their stop in Tokyo. From Tokyo they moved on to Sydney, Australia -- visiting the city's Bondi Beach, Harbour Bridge and Opera House -- and Cape Town, South Africa, where the band was greeted by adoring fans and a presumably tame cheetah on Monday.

The band will stop at Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach and Sugar Loaf Mountain before returning to North America to wrap up the tour in New York City's Times Square on Nov. 21. There the group will announce plans for a 2001 world tour to commence in their home state of Florida.

As for the promotional blitz, when all is said and done, the Boys will have spent over fifty-five hours in the air, with a mere forty-five hours on the ground.

CHRISTINA SARACENO
(November 21, 2000)