^ lol nice pic. He's quite a good-lookin' guy ^^ I can't say I know for sure whether he's gay or not, he could be gay but you never know if it's just a rumor. For instance, there used to be a rumor that, oh I forget his name-- he's a famous Japanese actor who played the main part in the drama Shogun and also played Benke in the drama Yoshitsune (he came to the 2004 Kouhaku too to perform a song called "Samba."). Anyway, people started saying that he was gay just because he wasn't married or going out or anything and the media once saw him in a gay bar. But it turned out he got married later and that he wasn't really gay. Maybe that's the same case w/ Hirai Ken too. Can't say for sure, maybe he really is gay, or maybe people are just starting rumors about him because he doesn't have a girlfriend or something.
I hope he's not retired! He's a great singer!
