OSAKA — Overseas visitors to a major international conference here in October will be greeted by young women shoving drinks into their hands and smiling old male bureaucrats distributing promotional literature.
This gathering, a meeting of the General Association of International Sports Federations, has become the year's most important event for Osaka.
And it may be the only chance the city will have to wine and dine influential sports officials between now and September 2001, when the International Olympic Committee selects the host city for the 2008 Olympics.