Comedian Matsumoto Hitoshi (45, photo left) has finally given up his bachelor ways, and in typical show business fashion. In a brief statement faxed to the media yesterday by the Yoshimoto Kogyo agency, it was announced that he has married a former TV weather girl nineteen years his junior and expecting a child within the year. Matsumoto asked that they be left in peace and said he was too shy to give a press conference. Although the announcement didn’t name his new bride, sources identified her as Ihara Rin (26, photo insert). Their relationship was first exposed in the weekly gossip magazines last summer, when Ihara was the weather presenter on NTV’s “Zoom In!! Super.” She retired from the show last September and quit show business at the end of the year. Though he has recently embarked on a career as a movie director, Matsumoto is best known as one half of the top comedy duo Downtown. His comedy partner Hamada Masatoshi (46, photo right) has been married 20 years and has two teenage children. “Congratulations. So you’re going to be a parent, too!” he said commenting on the news. In typical fashion, he quipped, “No more visits to Gotanda, eh?” referring to the Tokyo district known for its love hotels and brothels. Matsumoto has been the object of many romance rumors, and from 1995-2003 was in a relationship with actress Tokiwa Takako (37). Since then he’s gone for younger women, and in recent years was spotted on dates with the likes of talento Yuka (28) and Hiro (25) of the J-pop group Speed.