京都：舞子になりました！(Kyoto: becoming a Maiko)

Yeah! That's me!

On Saturday, I slept in until about nine o'clock, after which I had breakfast with Okaasan and then headed to Nagahama Eki (Nagahama station) in order to take the train to one of the most fabulous cities in all of Japan, Kyoto!

Language Note: I always remembered the two capitals of Japan because they were just flip-flopped with the names. To-kyo, and Kyo-to. In reality, this isn't true.

The kanji for Tokyo is 東京, which means Eastern capital. On the other hand, Kyoto is 京都. Kyoto means capital city, (even though it technically isn't anymore.)

As you can see, the kanji are not switched, so they are not the same thing! Kanji is so useful in situations like this.

So yeah, I got to Kyoto after taking the train for about an hour. Once I was at the train station, I used a fare adjustment in order to pay for my way from Hikone to Kyoto, (because I already have a pass from Nagahama to Hikone, so I didn't need to pay and extra 230 yen) and then I asked for directions to Yumekoubou.

At Yumekoubou, the lady came over and we started discussing what I was going to do, in Japanese. I decided which package I wanted and we talked about how they could send me the pictures since I was going to be out of the country in less than a month.

At one o'clock, another lady showed me to the other side of the building, where I took off my shoes and put on the slippers provided. I then followed her into the dressing/washing room, and on the way I saw three other girls also dressing up at Maiko.

Oh, maybe I should explain. A Geisha is, in my own definition, a hospitable Japanese woman. They are NOT prostitutes. Please, completely forget the movie "Memoirs of a Geisha" because it is not true whatsoever. Geisha play various instruments, do tea ceremonies, dance and other types of entertainment of arts.

You're probably better off wiki-ing this, but I'll make it short so everyone can get a glimpse.

Geisha have "customers", or men who basically hang out with Geisha. Whether it's talking or listening to her play koto. In return for her hospitality and platonic companionship, the man pays for the Geisha fees. (Kimonos, instruments and other various knick knacks). Geisha can have several "customers", therefore can have more money to spend on nicer things.

Sometimes, these customer/Geisha relationships become sexual, but that is not the original concept.

So what the heck is a Maiko?

A Geisha apprentice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geisha

Go ahead and read that.

So anyways, I dressed up an a Maiko. At first I had to take out all of my ear piercings, (those who know me know that I have quite a few) and then I put on a white slip overtop of my underclothes.

I wouldn't recommend this for the completely shy ladies, because this is mostly in public. Granted, it's a women's only room, but you're still taking off your clothes while others are washing their face and others are putting their clothes on.

I also put on the tabi, (or two-toed socks) and then slipped back on my slippers and headed over to the make-up area. There, they put white make-up (that felt like clay at first) on my back, neck and face. They then covered that with white powder. I also had red and black eyeliner, red lips and they darkened my eyebrows so that they looked a perfect shape. Due to not wearing make-up for nearly three days in preparation, my eyes watered a little bit, but they managed to fix that up real easy.

Next, I was brought over to the kimono area where I picked out my kimono. I have blue eyes, so I decided to go with something of a blueish color and ended up with the one in the picture above. Putting on a kimono is tougher than all that stuff they wore in England back in the day.

Okay, first I had my slip. Then I had another thin dress with a red outline. It was tied tightly across the waist. Next was the collar, which was rested on my shoulders and tied across the waist. It's the red fabric peeking out around my neck. Then, I put on the actual kimono, the blue dress that I picked out. It involved lots of wrapping and tying off, (around the waist, once again). Then, I had another belt tied around my waist. Then, they tied the red fabric around my waist, (that's actually not part of the kimono, that's a whole other belt in the picture.) Then, I had another smaller belt tied on, (That's the black one that looks like it has leaves on it). Then, I had an even smaller belt put on, (it's a thin piece with two flowers on the front.)

Last, a big black thing, (I've sat here, trying to think how to describe it) was placed on my back. Part of the piece stuck behind all of my belts so that it would stay. You can kind of see it hanging off my back in the picture above.

So anyways, after all that jazz, I put on some Japanese sandals and walked outside where I met some other girls who were also doing the maiko dress-up. They all looked at me and said "kawaii!" (cute!) and we talked for a little bit in Japanese before the lady who had dressed me took our pictures, and then some pictures of me individually.

Afterwards, I headed into the studio, where a photographer took pictures of me using various props. When I was done, I walked outside, took some more pictures, then went back into the dressing room to take it all off.

It takes about twenty minutes to do everything: to put on make-up, get dressed, take off make-up. To take off the make-up, I was given some wet cloths, and the two ladies helped me with my back make-up. Then, I changed into my regular clothes and headed to the waiting room, where I got to see my pictures. I got to choose which four I wanted to be printed into large size and sent to Nagahama, (within two weeks) and then another one for a postcard, (which I gave to my hostparents) and then whether I wanted the CD or not. (Which I did because I can make more pictures from that on my computer).

After Yumekoubou, I took a random train and ended up in the middle of Kyoto. I had texted my friends, but none had texted back, (scratch that, only one of my friends has a phone) so I decided to explore Kyoto on my own. After living here for nearly six weeks, I have become very comfortable in Japan, and I feel very safe. Of course, I'm smart. I don't go into dingy cafes, and I stay away from dark alleys and I never walk at night unless I'm with someone else.

So, I ended up walking for about thirty minutes before I found this really awesome place called Teramachi Street. It's basically a really really long street of shops, and there I spent the rest of my day, going in and out buying everyone's "omiyage" or souvenirs.

At about seven, I grabbed the train back to Nagahama. I fell asleep right away, but it was probably one of the best days so far in Japan.

More to come soon!