Abstract Mariko and I arrived at the fashionable Osaka Hotel a little before 3 p.m. We were led to a pleasant Japanese-style room in the hotel restaurant that had a beautiful view of a small garden and a fishpond. Mariko had been wise enough to reserve it for the duration of our interview with Kurihara Harumi, the most renowned charisma housewife in Japan. The “Empress of Domesticity”—as the New York Times had labeled her (Moskin, 2006)—accompanied by her assistant, arrived several minutes later. She was wearing blue jeans and a light sweater from her own line of chic casual clothing.