When the public recently learned that 28-year-old idol Takuya Kimura was marrying singer Shizuka Kudo, who is already four months pregnant with his child, the SMAP-man's image immediately changed from sex symbol to . . . well, actually, the image still seems to be under construction.

At the impromptu press conference "Kimutaku" (his abbreviated nickname) held two weeks ago outside the venue where he and the other members of SMAP had just performed, he came across as a starry-eyed romantic. This is probably closer to his true nature than the Love God image that grew out of his reputation as the man Japanese women most wanted to take to bed, not to mention ads where he appears with an Elvis sneer and a come-hither expression.

To me, he's always been a kid, especially compared to the other members of SMAP, all of whom have successfully developed individual public persona that reveal a mature understanding of their strengths and a real talent for self-promotion. Whether he's bumping and grinding in a whiskey commercial or playing a classical pianist in a TV drama series, Kimutaku still looks like the ingenue who just had stardom thrust upon him. In fact, he's most appealing when he makes fun of his sexy image, as he does in a recent series of credit card commercials playing a self-consciously macho but nevertheless attentive boyfriend.