It was a night to remember last May at the Italian restaurant Bice in downtown Tokyo. The room was agog because among the diners were two middle-aged men, one burly, the other downright fat. They sat around jawing about sports -- soccer, tennis, Formula 1 auto racing. At one point they turned to chat about fashion with a neighboring party of awed Italians. The cause of the stir was that the two amiable gents were the world's most famous opera singers and among the richest and best-known entertainers in any field: Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti.
Much ink has been spilled...