Geisha

This week I got back into learning about Japanese culture and one including Geisha. I don't know where it started but after watching Memoirs of a Geisha I wanted to learn all about the real Geisha. I think maybe from watching Ghibli and how they portrait Japanese traditions in their films that I wanted to learn about other things then a while after watching Ghibli did I see Memoirs of a Geisha. I thought the film was okay there were some particular scenes in the movie that I thought were just lovely. I loved the kimonos she wore they just so detailed and beautiful.

However I was shocked to learn that the actors/actresses were Chinease and not Japanese as Geisha are.

Thats what I decided to do next learn who this Mineko Iwaski was. I ordered her book 'Geisha of Gion' and read it this week. Reading about her life and experiences as a geisha that are fact. I got into this book so much that I didn't put it down and read it in just a few days.
How she lived in Kyoto from the age 5 being adopted from the okiya's owner Madame Oima and took on a new family name of Iwasaki.

It was a highly interesting book and a very good read. 

It makes me want to visit Japan more now. The one thing I like to do is the Geiko makeover experience http://www.eok.jp/travel/experience/dress-up-costume/aya and to do the evening with Geiko and Maiko. Other parts of Kyoto I'd love to visit and other parts of Japan too not forgetting the Ghibli museum. 

Love to do the overall Japanese experience and hope to have it one day in the near future.