Today was another big walking day around Kyto. We woke up and immediately headed towards the center of the city to do a free walking tour. On our way there we got attracted like magnets to a manga museum. Kaz unleashed the inner fan girl and drooled over every managa she could find.
Just when I managed to unstick Kaz from the manga, I found myself stuck to a sushi train. It was amazing! Expensive, but amazing.
Finally we got to the walking tour just in time. The guy touring us was an Aussie from Brisbane and was remarkably knowledgeable about Japanese culture. He told us about the geisha and maiko. Traditionally, women from poor families with no prospects could earn money from the age of 15 by training as a social entertainer. Women all begin as Maiko's and have to pay a huge amount of money upfront (or get it loaned) to buy all of their equipment. Then they dress up in traditional clothing and learn valuable social skills including how to dance traditionally and entertain business men with drinking games. Once they reach a certain age and are good enough at what they do, they become Geisha's and have more freedoms including where to travel - but not enough freedoms to have relationships - to do that they need to surrender their title of Geisha and get married. The Australian guy described everything in a very positive way, exclaiming that this profession had grown and become so well respected that even women from well off families considered it a privilege to train for years in this art.
I felt differently, however. Perhaps my feminist roots got in the way, but I couldn't help but feel that these poor women were victims of a very outdated tradition.
We also met Dave in the late afternoon and enjoyed some curry (yes, Indian curry) with his girlfriend, Callum, Morgan and Ian Free. Good night :)
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