Actor turned samba singer Matsudaira Ken (51) has got hitched again. Married to the beautiful Daichi Mao (48) until their divorce in January of last year, this time around he’s tied the knot with former idol singer Matsumoto Yuriko (37). The two appeared together on the popular TV Asahi samurai show “Abarenbo Shogun” back in 1991 but only started a romance in October of 2004. They registered their marriage yesterday. For many years, Matsudaira was the macho face of the sword-wielding Abarenbo Shogun, a part he played 830 times between 1978 and 2003. But after his divorce from Daichi, he underwent a huge transformation, dressing in gold lame kimono and singing and dancing the samba. The song “Matsuken Samba II” was a huge hit with people of all ages and kept him in the spotlight for the whole year.
(By the way, “goal in” is one of those strange Japanized expressions that sound like English but make no sense. It’s used for situations where somone manages to make it across the marriage finishing line.)
• Pop duo Puffy are to work with Cindi Lauper (52) on her new album of self-covers. “The Body Acoustic” marks her 25th anniversary in showbiz and includes collaborations with such established names as Jeff Beck and Sarah McLachlan, so the inclusion of Puffy is quite an honor. Of course, the huge success of their US animation series “Hi! Hi! Puffy AmiYumi” has not harmed their market value. And they are an ideal match for a cover version of Lauper’s landmark 1983 hit “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”