BANGKOK -- Hundreds of kids line up patiently outside the air-conditioned convention hall for an hour, only to learn the hottest, cheapest concert of the month has just been sold out. The logo for the event is the Japanese flag, a red sun on a field of white, bearing the English words: Asia 2000 Music Festival.
Co-sponsored by Japan's NHK and the Thai Army's Channel 5, the concert is being staged in a consumer's paradise, the top floor of the biggest department store in Bangkok, and is symbolic of Japan and Thailand's generally friendly relations, in a region fraught with ethnic and national rivalries.
The extravaganza starts an hour late. The sight of the empty, glittering stage causes some head-scratching among the adults present, but provides an opportunity for the hormone-driven crowd of Thai and Japanese teens to mingle and horse around.