May 1 was Fete du Travail (Labor Day) in France, and was also the day of the charming French tradition of offering muguets (lilies of the valley) to loved ones. Like every year, people were busy selling and buying bunches of muguet at roadside stands or in front of supermarkets -- the bell-shape flowers are a sign of spring and therefore believed to bring luck and happiness.

Soon after spring is announced by the tiny white bells, the hot season usually comes quickly in southwestern France. From now on, the sunlight will get increasingly stronger and the temperature will keep rising toward high summer. Soon, like every year, hasty customers of our B&B will start diving into the fresh water of our outdoor swimming pool.

Lately, I have been thinking of a woman who arrived alone at our door with her bicycle one May evening. The French woman introduced herself as Roseline, said she had been married for more than 40 years and had three kids but decided to separate from her "unaffectionate" husband who she just couldn't care for like before. She was looking for shelter during the arbitration of their divorce.

Just having started up a new life on her own, Roseline looked a bit tired but didn't seem lonesome or depressed at all. In the daytime, she actively went on bike rides through the neighboring hills, and every evening she exercised in the water to keep her body in good shape.

To look attractive at any moment is "very important for any woman," she repeatedly said, (actually, despite being over 60, Roseline was a nice-looking woman often dressed in her decollete dresses). Later she left for a French Caribbean island, and from there she sent us a postcard saying that she had met a new love who was much younger than her.

I'm not sure if it was a wise decision she had made, yet Roseline struck me as the amazing antipode of my mother in Japan, who happened to be the same age. My mother always complains about her husband, but would she ever leave him to begin a single life at 63, or find a younger boyfriend? Or, as the mother of four children, would she try to be seductive in the eyes of men, working out and wearing decollete dresses?

Married, having children or working outside, French women seem to prefer to express themselves first as one woman. And, like Roseline, even getting older they don't stop trying to be attractive to men. I think that it's a great thing.

What kind of women do French men like, then? Compared to Japanese men who are traditionally fond of the cute and feminine type, French men seem to prefer the cool, sexy and mentally mature type of woman. And I would like to add that in this country youth is not especially treasured like it is in Japan. I often see imposingly attractive women who are around 50 -- and beyond? -- and I think that it's a great thing, too.

Born and grown up in Cote d'Azur, Roseline once prepared for us the traditional soupe au pistou of her region during her stay. It's seemingly a plain and boring vegetable soup, but its taste is suddenly lifted up at the last moment by the intense concentration of garlic, basil, cheese and olive oil. I don't know what has become of her, but her soup has become to me a reminder of the fortitude of French woman.

The Japan Times Weekly: May 27, 2006
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