Soviet 1st Lady a Hit at Market

Raisa Gorbachev was a big hit Wednesday at the Tsukiji, Japan’s largest fish market, where one enraptured stall owner presented her with a token of his esteem--a 6 1/2-pound flounder.

A KGB agent slung the fish, in a plastic bag, over his shoulder as the Soviet leader’s wife strolled among mounds of tuna, crab and shrimp. “She came across as a very normal kind of person,” one approving fishmonger said. She even tasted some squid.

Later, Raisa Gorbachev was invited to visit what Japanese officials assured her was the home of a typical Japanese. In fact, it turned out to be the two-story suburban home of a BMW-driving doctor. She talked to the doctor’s wife about work and families.

Japanese say she is intelligent, charming and pretty. When she has shown up in public, people have cheered. But the assertive Raisa Gorbachev might not approve of one compliment. Yomiuri Shimbun, a leading newspaper, likened her to a dutiful Japanese wife, noting that she walks “three paces” behind her husband.