The Real Thing

This morning I went down to Kaburen-jo Theater to finally get my hands on some Kyo Odori tickets, since they sell out pretty fast, I went early and got there at around 10:00 am.

As I arrived at the theater there was an old lady dressed in a kimono struggling with the zipper on her purse, I walked by her and said "ohayo gozaimasu" as I passed , she smiled and looked up then said the same thing back to me, then another old lady arrived and said "ohayo gozaimasu oneesan" to the lady with the zipper problem I thought they were really nice ladies by the way they were greeting each other and other people as they made their way in to the theater.

(here she is still struggling with that zipper)

I couldnt find the box office so I went in through a side door that looked like an office and waited after 2 ladies also dresed in kimonos for my turn to ask someone behing the huge counter to tell me where I could buy the tickets .

As I waited I noticed that they had some pretty cool Geiko dolls for a regular office I looked to my right to an open door at the far end of the office and saw a Maiko standing there for about 2 seconds, then she went back in, so then it hit me like a ton of bricks and I realized that this was the entrance for the Geiko and Maiko for rehearsals because right after that the office got swamped with Maikos bowing and greeting each other and making their way in , all dressed in their daytime kimonos, and no white makeup.

I couldn't move but the office had very little space between the door the wall and the counter anyways so I tried to get my self out of the way and not be a bother, there was a really really really, extremely nice woman standing next to me, she too was dressed in a kimono and she smiled at me very kindly and told me that the tickets were not being sold yet that the sales would start tomorrow morning in a little booth outside the theater, while she took the time to talk to me the Maiko that were coming in kept bowing at her and saying "ohayo gosaimasu oneesan, I waited until the door was clear so i could get out and so I thanked the lady to my left and bowed as I went out to the little street in front where there were still more Maikos making their way in to what I think can only be rehearsal.

Some Maiko were coming out of okiyas right on that street, I could not believe my luck. On the picture bellow you can see 2 Maikos that came out of the doorway where now a girl in a sweatshirt and jeans is seeing them off, this girl is a Shikomi now but someday she too might become a Maiko, she lingered for a long time at the door until she could no longer see the 2 Maikos then she went back inside.

After that wonderful incident, I headed to the Terramachi dome area again to go shopping but for the rest of the day I kept thinking about the lady that helped me out at the office, she was way too nice, it was what I can only describe as professional niceness, I think she could have been a Geiko with out her makeup on or maybe it was just a real classy gal in a kimono, who knows.

I'm still in shock though, for me to come from my little country in the middle of nowhere and to have had the luck of getting lost in a room full of real Maiko , not impersonators, not cheap imitations , no, this was the real deal, I'm so thankful for my camera right now.

Jya ne

Family Sunday

It's Sunday , and my in laws are coming over to visit since sho chan got accepted to an university here in Kyoto, so he will be very close, I wonder if he will visit us often, but anyways, I'm getting ready to go meet them and head off to the campus dorm to help sho chan settle it.

Ive never seen a Japanese campus so it will be interesting, I'm taking my camera with me so I'll be able to post some pics later on.

Jya ne.

Bad Luck

Today I went to a Tera (budhist temple)and got my monthly Omikuji.

I got bad luck, says I have to pray to god and not do bad things, which is very good advice anyways, so Ill be doing just that this month.

It's now 11:11 pm we just got back from walking around Kyoto all day long, I'm tired and I got my first Japanese cold to top it off, so I'm calling it a day and going to bed after a quick dip in the Furo.

Oyasumi nasai

Telling the real from the fake

Lately it seems that every time I go to Gion the streets are filled with Maiko in full makeup walking up and down the streets even though it's early in the day. So I took tons of pictures, each time I saw one, only to realize later that out of 48 pictures I took only 1 had real Maiko in it. Needless to say I felt duped.

In hopes of sparing you from this sad sad disillusionment, I'm going to list some ways you can tell if the Maiko you see on the streets of Gion are the real thing or just made up average girls.

But before I do the list I have to answer the question:

WHY ARE THERE FAKE MAIKO IN GION?

Well..... around fifty fake geisha studios, if not more, have sprung up all around Kyoto. They attract more than half a million customers each year. Before when people visited Kyoto, they would just visit the temples but now a days becoming a fake Maiko is the second most popular thing for tourists to do.

As a tourist the idea of getting your picture taken in full Maiko gear and walking down any street in Gion is almost a dream come true, and that is exactly what you can purchase in photo studios in Gion, I took a picture of this studio advertising makeovers :

Japanese girls also pay to get made up in to Maikos for a couple of hours, Ive seen groups of 3 and 4 girls dressed in Maiko gear having fun, posing with tourists, I have to say if I were Japanese and had the dough I'd get my picture taken with my best friend like that too. These are 3 Japanese girls doing just that:

So now that we know why this happens lets move on to how to tell the real from the fake:

Using a wig.
Real Maiko have their hair done every week, they are not allowed to wear wigs so this is pretty easy way to know right away. Wigs have an upside down triangle shape in the center front area, I drew a line around this girls hairline so you can see what I mean, also close to the ears you can see the wig was not well attached on the girl on the left.

Walking with a companion.
Maiko don't need people to help them walk around Kyoto, only people who are not accustomed to wearing Okobo and a big bulky kimono, or people that don't know their way around town do. The girl in the photo bellow had her mother helping her walk around you can see her holding her hand. This fake Maiko is not wearing a wig, for an extra price you can get your real hair done to have your pictures look more natural, but since mom is with her I'm guessing mom paid a lot of dough to have beautiful pictures of her daughter taken.

Age
Maikos are very young girls, mostly teenagers so if she looks a bit older than 30 its a big giveaway sign. You can see on this next picture that the "Maiko" on the left is just a tad bit older than the one on the right.

Tech Toys
Maiko are not allowed to use cellphones, they have to write to people like they used to in the good old days, so any "Maiko" you see using one is a F.A.K.E

Smoking
Maiko don't smoke.

Pierced Ears
Getting your ears pierced is not allowed when you area Maiko so if you see piercing, you know what that means.

Fake Nails or Nail Polish
A true Maiko would never have fake nails on or polished nails either, they are not allowed to do so. So look closely at their hands.

Time of day
Real Maiko only get into their full make up and wardrobe when they have to attend to tea houses which is usually after six , in the daytime to walk around they don't have their white makeup on and they don't use the fancy kimonos either they use lighter more common ones, so if you see a Maiko in full garb at 11 am. you know its a fake.

These are basic signs you can pay attention to tell the difference, but there are a lot more ways to tell the real from the fake, things like hair ornaments and the color of their collar and their hairstyle also the colors of the kimono they are wearing, they way they pose, the way walk , etc

I did get to see 2 real Maiko coming out of their Okiya in a little side street where almost zero tourist were around, I was quite surprised when I saw them walking out , you can see their kimonos are not as gaudy as the rental ones and also their hair ornaments are different, this is the pic:

NOTE: I had originally posted the images without the faces blured but this seemed to upset a japanese friend of mine who on behalve of the girls that got the makeover asked me to cover their faces and respect their happy day in gion as fake maikos, I think that is a noble thing to do so, sorry for the blurs but I really dont need to show their faces to prove my point and this way everybody is happy.

Jya ne!

Homesick

Today , more than ever, I miss the things that once belonged to me without ever having bought them. I never realized that distance was such a difficult thing to accept.

Before I came here, the thought of living in a country as far and different from my own was , in my mind, an exiting though. Now that I live in exile from all the things that made me the person I am today, I realize, halve of my hart is in Kyoto but the other half never boarded the plane.

I miss my little island by the sea,

I miss rice and beans

I miss plantains very much.

Thinking about moving to a distant country and actually doing it are very different things, the price to pay is very high, and it hurts to have to pay it. In a perfect world Japan would have a little bridge to my country and I could cross it anytime to check up on the people that I love and still make it in time to come back and be with my new family, but life makes you choose, and its either one or the other but never both at the same time.

March 25th was the date on my return airplane ticket, I no longer have the security of having a return date. Now that I live here indefinitely, this new reality is slowly sinking in.

I am very very far from home

I am very very far from home

I am very very far from home

This is your new home

I keep saying these things in my mind......

How long does it take to get used to the distance?

I guess this is what adaptation is suposed to feel like...... I miss my home.

Samurai Tour

Daisuke came over to visit us all the way from Osaka, he is a huge Samurai fan so he had already looked up all the places he wanted to see in Kyoto that were related to the Satsuma Clan and the Meiji Restoration, I know very little about Japan's History and even less about Samurai so it was very interesting for me to find out about these places.

Our first stop was the Ryozen Gokoku Shrine :

Located at 1 Ryozen-cho, Seikanji, Higashiyama-Ku, Kyoto 605-0861, the Gokoku Shrine is right next to the Ryozen "sacred mountain" which is the name of the hill which enshrines the spirits of 3200 participants in the Meiji Restoration movement. Samurai, Soldiers, talented and intelligent minds of that period, 1 Geisha and her Husband, all dead at a young age , mostly late 20's early 30's.

The main attraction at the Ryozen is Ryoma Sakamoto's grave which is the most visited and most advertised attraction, the picture bellow is the entrance to the Ryozen, it's covered with images of Ryoma Sakamoto:

I was very impressed when I found out a Geisha was buried here among all these revolutionaries, her name was Ikumatsu , she gave refuge to Katsura-Kogoro, who was wanted by the Shogunate, love began between them, and they safely entered the Restoration as a married couple, now they are buried next to each other on Ryozen , this is a picture of her grave, it had fresh flowers that day, I guess a lot of people visit her.


After we explored the Cemetery we crossed the street and went to the Ryozen Museum of History. I was able to get an English brochure with my entrance ticket but the information on it is very general, once you enter the museum everything is in Japanese and there was sooooo many interesting things I would have loved to be able to understand but alas I'm just a newbie.

This is a wax life scaled model of Ryoma Sakamoto:

This is the actual blade that killed Ryoma, from what I was told by Daisuke, this blade was specially made to be smaller and therefore faster with the sole purpose of killing Ryoma.


The museum also has a video re-enactment of what happened the night Ryoma died, and how he was killed, and a scaled model of the soy sauce warehouse where it happened.

After the museum we headed to Hamaguri Gomon Gate at the Imperial Park, This is where a memorable event in history happened in 1863. A one day battle between the Shogunate and Choshu took place in Kyoto that was short but very destructive, as the flames of war covered most of the city and lasted for three days. Bullet marks from the conflict remain on the gate to this day. When I saw the bullet marks on the wood I couldn't believe these doors were still intact being outdoors exposed to the elements, it was quite impressive, here are some pics of the bullet marks and the gate:





Afterwords we went to visit the places where the Satsuma clan was based at which is now a days an University , where Ryoma had his import business, the place is still there remarkably enough, and the place where Ryoma was killed at which I was surprised to see is now a conbini, except for Ryoma's import business all that remained from these places are just small stone pillars to commemorate the spots where they once stood.






I learned a lot a yet not enough, it was a really fun day.

Jya ne!

Reading Right Now

Walking down the Terramachi Dome area, we found a great bookshop and went in to have a look. Since my Japanese reading skills are almost non existing I always look around for books in English and was surprised to find "A Geisha's Journey" on one of the shelves.

I'm a Geiko fan so of course I bought myself a copy, and as I got home and immediately started reading the book, I realized that it's not your typical Geisha story book.

The book is about the life of Komomo and how she became a full fledged Geiko in the Hanamachi in modern day Japan. It's a compilation of comments by Komomo of her memories of training and performing, she points out things that she learned along the way , like how not to upset her elders and how things were difficult and also how she almost quit the life of a Maiko because of how hard their training and demands are, but the book does not get deeeeeeeep in to details like the Arthur Golden book did, oh no, this is a really clean really insightful but not damaging version of what a Geisha's life is like.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the Arthur Golden book (Ive read it like 7 times) but that book as famous as it was caused a lot of damage to the Geisha Image and reputation, and a lot of trouble to the Geisha it claims confessed all the secrets of the Hanamachi. People all around the world, in ignorance, think that Geisha are prostitutes and there is no greater insult to their work and their dedication than that.

Komomo's book I think was published in an effort to correct some of the damage done to the Geiko image by books and movies that take advantage of the mystery and the lack of information about Geishas that most of us westerners have and exploit our curiosities with lies and misconceptions at the expense of hard working, dedicated artisans, which is what Geiko really are.

If you are a Geiko fan yourself, I highly recommend picking up a copy of "A Geisha's Journey" you'll be happy you did. You can get a copy from Kodansha International which is the publisher's website or from Amazon.com .

Jya ne!

Lost in Gion

If there was ever a place in Japan where I wouldn't mind getting lost in, Gion would definitely be it, and that is exactly what happened to me.

Walking along one of Gion's many narrow streets , I ended up at a very peculiar Jinja. Usually, when you visit Jinjas in Japan you will see little wooden boards with people's wishes written on their back side, these boards are called Ema but in the Jinja I came across, the Ema were made of cloth in the shape of cute little dolls. They had people's wishes written on them as usual but i cant imagine these cuties being burned by the monks, which is what usually happens to Emas.

I was lucky enough to come across 2 young Maiko girls who also came to the little jinja in Gion and also took a look at the cute Emas. This was the first time Ive ever seen a real life Maiko, I think I held my breath the whole time they were there.

Jya ne!

J-pop Top 10

OK , for all the jpop fans out there, here are the top 10 J-pop songs playing on the radio at the moment, you can listen to them on the link to my player list I placed under the top 10 list and I also placed links to the songs lyrics if you want to sing along just click on the song's name.

Enjoy!!!!!!!

1- Sono mama by SMAP.
2- Kimi station by Orange Range.
3- Taiyou no Namida by News.
4- Soba ni Irune by Thelma Aoyama feat. SoulJa.
5- Umiyuki - Jero.
6- Pure by Exile.
7- Te wo Tsunagou by Ayaka.
8- Home by Shimizu Shota.
9- Close to you by Tohoshinki.
10- Tabidachi - Greeeen.

Listen to the songs on my online player (FREE)

Plum Trees (Ume)

At the arrival of spring, Japan is covered in a blanket of pink and white petals as the plum and cherry trees blossom.

We went to Nagaokakyo Tenmangu to see their Umebashi (plum garden). Plum trees blossom in march and cherry trees in late April, but they are both impressively beautiful.

As you walk through the garden you will notice a strong bitter sweet fragrance coming from the thousands and thousands of tiny flowers on the trees. People get really close to the flowers and smell each different type of ume tree as if comparing which tree has the sweetest smell.

Walking through the park I saw a brief glimpse at an old couple having a bento picnic in a secluded spot under an ume tree, quietly eating, still together after who knows how many years, still visiting parks on weekends, how sweet is that?

Taikobikusu (タイコビクス)

Yesterday afternoon, while I was washing the dishes and watching TV at the same time, they aired an interview about the new exercise trend in Japan, its called Taikobikusu, as soon as they started talking about this new trend I put the dishes down to watch the full interview because I was soooo curious about this new trend. What is this Taikobikusu about?

The name for the new trend is formed from 2 words, the first being Taiko (Japanese traditional drum) and the second one is Aerobics, mix those 2 words in Katakana and we got:" Taikobikusu (タイコビクス)"

When playing Taiko drums you usually have your arms extended to the front and while banging the drum , the Taiko players usually incorporate a choreography to their movements, making any Taiko performance a must see.

I can easily see how this would incorporate into a great arm workout that is not the usual weight lifting ho -hum routine. If you've never seen a Taiko performance check this one out to get an idea of what I'm talking about:



After seeing the piece they aired on TV I started looking for more info on the web but Taikobikusu is so new that the information available is only in Japanese and on very few sites like this one: Yahoo beauty

The only place where you can get Taikobikusu is in Japan at the moment, but who knows how far this trend might travel. The creators of this new trend are Taiko Lab, they are located in Kyoto and Osaka, you can visit their official website at : Taiko Lab

Osaka Sumo Tournaments

The Osaka Sumo Tournament began yesterday and will be held at the Osaka Prefecture Gymnasium until March 23rd, You can see the wrestlers information and rank on this web page , when you click on their names you can see their stat page with their pics, I think sumo wrestlers look soooo cute on their pics, but they are really tough guys though.

On yesterdays tournament there were excellent matches, very good wrestlers and then there was Ama (Davaanyam Byambadorj) who jumped over his opponent when he mistakenly started wrestling on his own, later he was easily defeated seen how he fell over almost all on his own; it was an extremely easy victory for his opponent, I don't think he was too happy about that, what was going through his mind on that match? I couldn't believe how bad it was.

I'm dying to go to Osaka since its only 30 Min's away, but tickets are really hard to get since people here love sumo and usually buy tickets in advance. Prices range from 3,000 yen to 36,000 yen (roughly from 30 dollars to 360 dollars)

So I leave you today with a video showcasing Asashoryu , he is known for saying foul things to reporters off cameras and for being one of the bests (if not THE best) sumo wrestlers at the moment.

Yoshio Kojima

Yoshio Kojima is my favorite Japanese comedian at the moment. He usually appears on TV programs as part of the guest ensemble only wearing his little speedo shorts and saying frases like " Sonna no kankei nee " and "Oppapī " .

I always wonder if he's cold since hes wearing almost nothing, but anyways, the important thing is that he makes me laugh, so I'm posting one of his videos from youtube, enjoy!

Kinkakuji Temple

Gako chan came to visit us all the way from Yokohama, so we went sightseeing in Kyoto together, unfortunately the weather turned very very snowy, I thought that because of the weather there would be few people site seeing, boy was I wrong, Kinkakuji temple was packed there was a line to get in that looked like a world premiere event was being held inside or something like that, but after we finally made it in it was worth the long line, I think it was a special day, we got to see the temple covered in snow it was beautiful.

Here are the pics: