Chanpon

Much of my early understanding of Japanese history, I am sorry to say, came from my love of television samurai shows, the equivalent of westerns in the United States. Ken Matsudaira is a familiar face to anyone who watched a lot of these programs in the seventies and eighties - the quintessential strong, silent man, with those severe slanting eyebrows and a thirst for justice - even, at times, bloody vengeance. He had, I remember, a very elegant, theatrical way of speaking, and a dramatic, almost kabuki-like flair in his movements.

He now has a stage show in Osaka dancing and singing samba numbers. Oh Matsudaira! Is this the fate of the last century's icon of manhood?