The Luxury Housewife’s Meat and Potatoes

In the South of France, I once met a refined Japanese lady.

We bonded over our shared admiration for Vanossa Valenti, a Spanish furniture brand known only to those who never carry their own bags.

Later, she invited me to her home in Kobe.

She lived in Mikage — a quiet district where even the air smells expensive.

There was a fireplace in the living room.

She told me she had never worked a day in her life.

She graduated from junior college, then married right away.

I didn’t ask what her husband did,

but the house was full of scales — brass, porcelain, even crystal ones.

He must be in law, I thought.

Over tea, she mentioned something curious.

“I once saw Niku-jaga in Paris. At L’Hotel.”

“Meat and potatoes?” I asked.

She smiled.

“No, Mick Jagger. He was dining with two beautiful women.”

She said she wanted to talk to him, but decided it would be rude.

And I wondered —

what does rock ’n’ roll sound like to a woman who has never dirtied her hands with work?

Perhaps even her meat and potatoes are made with Kobe beef.

(“Niku-jaga” means meat and potatoes — but it also sounds suspiciously like “Mick Jagger.” lol )