After reading Arthur Golden’s fascinating tale “Memoirs of a Geisha” I became fascinated with this often misunderstood occupation. Rather than coutesans Geisha’s are actually Japanese hostesses trained to entertain men with conversation, dance and song.
The Japanese are incredibly culturally diverse. Its youth are steeped in a hugely modern culture of cosplay, crazy game shows and pichinko. But they still uphold their ancient customs and traditions such as the tea ceremony. And so visitors to Japan are confronted with a diametrically oposed cultural experience.
Someone was once asked to describe Japan. The response was that Japan was a country where health, enthursiasm and energy is valued, but so was working yourself to the point of exhaustion. It’s a country that is conscious of reducing waste, but it also completely consumed by anything that is ridiculously cute – including Hello Kitty. The Japanese aim to always “do their best”, but on the other hand they have a philosophy of “accepting their fate”. So it really is like being lost in translation.
On our trip to Japan we started by exploring pop-culture and cosplay at Tokyo’s famous Harajuku region. A long train journey followed to historic Nikko, home of the mausoleums of the Tokugawa Shoguns. Lastly we hunted Geisha in the back streets of Kyoto.