Ratna Sari Dewi Sukarno has become a well-known Japanese media figure in recent years and has just raised some $90,000 for victims of terrorist attacks in the United States.
The widow of the former president of Indonesia, who fell from power in 1966, she is a miracle of survival and reinvention, having lived in virtual exile from her homeland, Japan, for more than four decades. She now lives in the Gotanda district of Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward, with four lap dogs and an entourage of secretaries and housekeepers.
It is 8 p.m., and she has plasters on her elbows and shins after falling off a bicycle while teaching herself to ride for a New Year television special. A bottle of Champagne (her usual evening tipple) keeps her going through this, her first lengthy English-language interview with the Japanese press.