MOUNT ASO, Kyushu -- When he had just turned 20, "Good Time" Charlie Nagatani made a decision that must have seemed even more foolish than it was whimsical.

"A neighbor who worked at an American base nearby brought a Japanese country music band to play at my birthday party," he explained. "They were called the Hillbilly Jamboree. I fell in love with the music, quit college and joined the band."

Nagatani's impulse turned out to be inspired. Today, the entertainer, nightclub owner and festival impresario is the down-home doyen of American country music in Japan, adored by honky-tonk fans from Hokkaido to Okinawa. Even in Nashville, Tenn., the capital of country, he is well known in the music business for running one of its most memorable tours.

At the 12th annual Country Gold International Country Music Festival held Oct. 15, Nagatani celebrated his 45th year in country music. The venue was Aspecta, an open-air stage overlooking scenic Mount Aso, an active volcano in the lonesome heart of the southern island of Kyushu.

Joining in the celebration were five major Nashville acts, some 25,000 fans and a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, who presented Nagatani with a copy of a House resolution in honor of his anniversary.

"I first met Charlie when I was here on an exchange program for young political leaders in June 1989," recalled Rep. Steve McDaniel. "Because I was from Tennessee, people said I should go to his bar, so I did. About a month later, he called me from the Memphis airport and asked me to pick him up. I drove him to Nashville, where he signed the artists' contracts for the first Country Gold."

Among past performers at the festival are such names as Bryan White, Jo Dee Messina, Diamond Rio, Dwight Yoakam, the Bellamy Brothers, Ricky Skaggs, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Asleep at the Wheel, Marty Stuart, Connie Smith, Michael Peterson, the Charlie Daniels Band, Emmylou Harris and Bill Monroe.

This year's lineup was especially strong, led by headliner Brad Paisley, the singer-songwriter-guitarist who was recently named by both the Nashville Network and the Country Music Association as country music's most promising new male performer. Also appearing were the Wilkinsons, a father-daughter-son trio who are the darlings of Canadian country; the up-and-coming singer Chalee Tennison; Claire Lynch and her bluegrass Front Porch String Band; and the Derailers, the two-steppin' honky-tonk favorites of Austin, Texas.

As every year, the opening act of the afternoon-long concert was Good Time Charlie and the Cannon Balls, the house band at Good Time Charlie's, the honky-tonk bar Nagatani owns in nearby Kumamoto City.

The music business is a calling known for its dues, and Nagatani has paid his in spades. After performing in and around Tokyo for half a decade, he returned home to Kumamoto in 1961, married his "hard-lovin' woman" Toshiko and formed his own band.

"I had a hard time for the first two or three years," he said. "I couldn't get work. To pay the band, I had to borrow money from friends and family. They told me to quit."

Eventually, he started landing gigs at military bases in Japan, and this led to work in Okinawa in 1967, then further afield in Vietnam War-era bases and ports in Southeast Asia. The Cannon Balls toured so much, there was one year that Nagatani and his wife were together for only one day. Finally, in 1976, he brought his band home to Kumamoto and opened his nightclub. In 1989, he teamed up with Nashville promoter Judy Seale, now executive vice president of Refugee Management International, and launched the first Country Gold.

The festival has turned a small profit only twice, in 1994 and 1995, but Nagatani's love of country music and his boundless energy have made him a legend. A Kentucky colonel and an honorary citizen of 25 American states, Nagatani was named the Country Music Association International Talent Buyer/Promoter of the Year in 1998. The same year, Prince Tomohito of Mikasa, Emperor Akihito's first cousin, attended the festival -- and stopped by the nightclub afterward. Like other fans, the prince and his bodyguards arrived appropriately decked out in cowboy duds.

Nagatani was the 1999 Japanese recipient of the Mansfield Award in recognition of his "outstanding contributions to the promotion of understanding between Japan and the United States" -- the first-ever recipient in the field of arts and culture. In May 1999, he and Toshiko dined at the White House.

And what about this year?

"I had the time of my life," enthused headliner Brad Paisley. "It's the coolest country festival I've seen. It's pure here, not about money or fame or flash. After our set, we got offstage and remembered why we make music."

Much as Nagatani cherishes recognition from performers and VIPs, his pride and joy is the loyalty of his fans. In 1998, he calculated that 800 people had attended all 10 festivals. Last year, he noted that one 10-year-old boy could claim to have been to all 11 events, as "he was in the womb for the first one."

This year, death itself failed to spoil one fan's perfect attendance record. A decade ago when Shotaro Takemura, a victim of Down's syndrome and heart disease, was 20, doctors gave him six months to live. He proved them wrong, and his mother believes that it was the young man's love of Nagatani and country music that gave him the strength to carry on. Takemura's heart finally gave out last month, but on Sunday he was there at his 12th Country Gold, his ashes and portrait facing the stage from the shrine of his wheelchair.

"He was my biggest fan," observed Nagatani.