Several weeks ago, star economist and self-help guru Kazuyo Katsuma was the special guest on the TBS variety show "Kinyobi no Sumatachi e." The program's title conflates "kinyobi no tsumatachi" (Friday Wives), which once referred to Friday night "trendy drama" series centered on well-to-do housewives, and "SMAP," whose leader, Masahiro Nakai, is the series' host.

The program covers topics that are of interest to women, and Katsuma, who has parlayed her success as a CPA-cum- single mother of three into a career as a pundit, has become an icon for working wives and mothers. She has written more than a dozen books that have sold 2 million copies, and though much of her output is in the area of economics and time management, it's her self-improvement aspects that attract attention. Female devotees, popularly called "Katsumaa," follow her methods because they worked so well for her.

"Kin-Suma" had popular TBS staff announcer Shinichiro Azumi tag along with Katsuma during one of her typically busy days, including riding behind her as she pedaled her famous bicycle, which she takes from one appointment to another because it saves time. The program made an effort to show her personable side. When she's a guest on talk shows discussing economic matters Katsuma displays a forceful personality that tends to intimidate her interlocutors, especially men, who either take offense or laugh derisively at what they see as her naive understanding of financial realities.