Geisha

This week has been rather interesting. I enjoyed Miyazaki, a lovely relaxed place, a good place to chill out.

This thursday I had an encounter with a real life Geisha. This was rather lucky as not many Japanese people have seen one in the flesh (there are maybe only as many as one thousand) but two were on display in a Kumamoto department store trying to plug Kyoto as a tourist destinantion. Most of the on lookers were old people as most young people show little interest.　It was nonetheless an interesting spectacle. The usual minimalistac dancing was performed (which to be honest I find rather boring.) As the only gaijin and standing out in the crowd I was then afterwards asked to participate in a traditional geisha night drinking game. I reluctantly volunteered ( i had to take my shoes off and had odd socks on) The game consisted of propelling a fan in the air in order to hit a bell and knock it off. Not quite Fuzzy duck or wizz bang bounce but interesting all the same. Afterwards the geisha, who apparently is very popular in Kyoto gave me her card, a valuable thing and I am keeping it safe. Geishas may have a rather contstrictive lifestyle but when you earn about 1500 pounds for a nights entertainment I wouldnt complain!

I forgot to mention that I had a funny dream the other day. On coming back to chesham from Japan I discovered that the town had gone from being 99 percent caucasion to 99 percent black. Where the ww1 memorial statue was was replaced by an enormous statue of Tupac surrounded by a plethora of hip hop clubs. Its an interesting parallel because i often liken a gaijin in japan to being a black person in chesham!

Am now learning sign language also which is fun. Am also planning going to Osaka sometime this month.