Everyone thinks of kimonos and geisha when they think of Japan. I loved Memoirs of a Geisha and so seeing some was one of the many things I wanted to do while here in Japan. As mentioned in the book, the training process to become a true geisha is long and arduous. Simply put, everyone you see in a kimono is not a geisha...haha. I've included a link to look up more information about the training involved and the denotations involved with identifying geisha from maikos (geisha in training) and even prostitutes. Seeing girls in kimonos is pretty common, I see them on the train and all over the place in Tokyo pretty frequently. In Kyoto, however, there were the maikos and real geisha. There is even a special street that you can go to see the geisha walking around.
During my short trip to Kyoto, I started off with simply admiring the girls and their pretty kimonos (see pictures above) to looking for those with full makeup (see also above) to actually having the desire to try on a kimono and be transformed myself. I will post pictures of my personal transformation soon...stay tuned!!
For more information, refer to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geisha
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