hot tomale hero

For anyone who's lived in Japan, here is probably the least surprising news you've read this year just in from Japan Zone:

SMAP member Kimura Takuya (35) has topped one ranking of Japan's most popular men for a remarkable 15th year in a row. The annual ranking is done by women's magazine "anan" and published in a special issue. In addition to being the Most Popular Man, "Kimutaku" was top once again in four other categories: Best Boyfriend (he's married), Sexiest Man, Sharpest Dresser, and Man I'd Most Like to Sleep With. With SMAP about to release a new album and start a concert tour at Tokyo Dome tomorrow, there seems to be no limit to Kimutaku's popularity.

No, no there isn't. This guy has charisma in spades and and sales of any product he endorses go through the roof. I love his TV dramas, too. My friends and I experienced this charisma first hand at a SMAP concert. We all went there thinking the guy was fairly hot, but also quite up himself. We each had an alternative preferred band member. Towards the end of the concert, the band members hopped on a truck that took them around the arena so the more distant fans could get that close-up feeling. Well three foreigners are pretty easy to spot in a crowd of Japanese, so we caught Kimura's eye. He just looked at us for a long, delicious moment and we were lost. We spent the hours after the concert trying to figure out how he did that. I wish I knew, because if you could bottle it, there'd be a fortune to be made.

Now that I've built him up past any reasonable expectations, here's a fun video compiled from four Gatsby ads he did: