After an absence of four years, the Backstreet Boys arrived in Asia at the weekend, sailing into Odalba Bay, Tokyo, on the second stop of the 26,000-mile global tour.

Thousands of fans lined the shore to scream 'Ai shite mas! I Love You!' before the boys launched into an a cappella rendition of Shape Of My Heart, the first single taken from Black And Blue.

'This is amazing considering we haven't been here for four years,' said the youngest band member, 20-year-old Nick Carter. 'To see the fans response and know that they still love us is fantastic. It's a shame we can't stay for longer. I want to jump into the water and swim over to join them!'

Newly wed 29-year-old Kevin Richardson explained why he and his band mates had chosen to serenade the worshipping fans. 'They all made the effort to come and see us so we wanted to give them something more besides a simple wave.'

Carter also confided he was a keen fan of Japanese culture. 'I'm hoping to study some sort of martial arts in the future, like Elvis did,' he explained to the captivated fans before flashing his Japanese-influenced tattoos.

The guys flew straight to Japan from Stockholm, where they won Best Group at Thursday's MTV Europe Music Awards, arriving two hours later than their strict schedule allowed. However, the time was made up before their trek to Sydney.

The group's four-day, six-continent tour winds up in New York with the announcement of world tour dates.