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Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

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Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to stump Mom never told you?

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Speaker 1: From house Stop Works dot Com. Hey there, and welcome

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Speaker 1: to the podcast. This is Kristen and this is Molly.

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Speaker 1: So Molly. I don't know about you, but I think

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Speaker 1: in eleventh grade, maybe tenth grade, there were two books

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Speaker 1: that were going around, um My, all the girls in

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Speaker 1: my grade. Everyone was passing around Divine Secrets of the

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Speaker 1: Ya Ya Sisterhood, which I will just bury and let rest.

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Speaker 1: And Memoirs of a Geisha. I remember that one. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I think they made it into a movie a couple

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Speaker 1: of years ago, and um, everyone just loved it. They

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Speaker 1: were like, oh, you gotta read Memoirs of a Geisha.

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Speaker 1: So I borrowed my friend's copy read it and thought

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Speaker 1: it was just this magical world. Um. But come to

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Speaker 1: find out that the person who the memoir was based

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Speaker 1: on actually we wanted to ended up suing the author

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Speaker 1: because of all the misrepresentations of the life of a geisha. Right.

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Speaker 1: She thought that he kind of missed the mark. And

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Speaker 1: I think it's very easy to miss the mark with geisha. There.

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Speaker 1: I think they're pretty misunderstood. A lot of people seem

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Speaker 1: to associate them with prostitutes, right, um, But the fact

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Speaker 1: of the matter is they are prostitutes at all. Um.

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Speaker 1: But people are still enamored with this idea of a

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Speaker 1: geisha because they have, you know, the the kimono and

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Speaker 1: the white makeup and just look like just like something

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Speaker 1: out of another time. That that are still around and

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Speaker 1: they're mostly concentrated today in Kyoto and Tokyo, but tourists

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Speaker 1: have become so obsessed with trying to get a photo

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Speaker 1: of them that the government officials in Kyoto have had

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Speaker 1: to put up signs telling people to leave the geishas alone. Right,

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Speaker 1: And so I think that people think they're getting this

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Speaker 1: photo of, you know, an extravagant Japanese prostitute. But today

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Speaker 1: we're going to take sort of a more accurate look

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Speaker 1: at what geisha's job description actually is, right, And um,

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Speaker 1: I just caught myself Molly saying geishaw's But in fact,

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Speaker 1: geisha is both singular and plural, so I should have

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Speaker 1: said geisha. So you're on out geisha geisha And now

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm just gonna go ahead and say that

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Speaker 1: while we did look up how to pronounce a lot

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Speaker 1: of these Japanese words. I don't know if we're going

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Speaker 1: to get them all exactly right, but we will give

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Speaker 1: it a solid effort. We are going to try. So.

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Speaker 1: Geisha is the Japanese word for a person of art

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Speaker 1: and uh. Basically, a geisha is a professional hostess who

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Speaker 1: spends many many years mastering musical instruments, singing, dancing, and

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Speaker 1: all of the art of being a perfect hostess. And

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Speaker 1: that word is key, Kristen. Perfect. They basically have to

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Speaker 1: be the representation of the perfect woman. Yeah, this all

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Speaker 1: hearkens back to the time when Japanese women were really

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Speaker 1: excluded from mainstream society and um, the original geisha's geisha

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Speaker 1: or actually meant because women wouldn't have been allowed to

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Speaker 1: be associating with with businessmen like they do today. That's correct, Christen.

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Speaker 1: So there are a few theories on how geisha became

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Speaker 1: sort of female rather than male. One story is that

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Speaker 1: there are these female artists who wanted to steal business

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Speaker 1: from prostitutes to by hiring themselves out to sing and dance.

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Speaker 1: Instead of hiring a prostitute for your party, you would

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Speaker 1: hire geisha. And another one has a failing prostitute taking

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Speaker 1: a job as a geisha to makes an extra money,

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Speaker 1: and she was more successful as a geisha than she

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Speaker 1: was as a prostitute. So I mean, I don't know

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Speaker 1: what that says about her, but basically I think that's

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Speaker 1: where the sort of association with prostitution came up. Is

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Speaker 1: just they were aiming for the same business, right. But

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Speaker 1: but the government actually set up really strict rules for geisha, um,

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Speaker 1: concerning how they had to dress and where they could

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Speaker 1: go in the hours that they could keep, kind of

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Speaker 1: to delineate them from prostitute. But that only made them

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Speaker 1: more popular because it made them sort of more restricted,

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Speaker 1: more unavailable, more exotic. Uh. So this was a very

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Speaker 1: popular career choice for women, especially when they didn't have

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Speaker 1: many paths to travel as working women. Yeah, a lot

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Speaker 1: of a lot of poor families would send their send

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Speaker 1: their daughters to h geisha houses to to learn the

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Speaker 1: art and eventually of like take over the geisha house.

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Speaker 1: So let's talk a little bit about, um, the training

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Speaker 1: process of becoming a geisha, because uh, it takes about

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Speaker 1: as much time become a geisha as it does to

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Speaker 1: be trained as a doctor. It's very intensive, like you

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Speaker 1: think you left college with a four year degree in music,

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Speaker 1: try being a geisha who spent six years studying the

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Speaker 1: arts music, dance, tea ceremony, language, hostessing. That's it's a

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Speaker 1: lot of study. It is a lot of work. And

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Speaker 1: when a potential geisha first arrives at the okiya or

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Speaker 1: the tea house or geisha house, she she first becomes

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Speaker 1: an apprentice. You have to go through much like a doctor,

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Speaker 1: you have to go through a period of apprenticeship learning

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Speaker 1: all of these things before you can do the real deal.

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Speaker 1: And it's all sort of overseen by I kind of

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Speaker 1: like a house mother and a big sister. So you

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Speaker 1: come in and you are in this very uh female

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Speaker 1: dominated society, and that's how you're gonna learn these very

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Speaker 1: traditional arts. Um, you're gonna study singing, as we mentioned,

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Speaker 1: in traditional Japanese dances, tea ceremony, flower arranging, calligraphy, a

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Speaker 1: variety of instruments. I think there's what like a three

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Speaker 1: stringed banjo and other other types, and maybe like a

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Speaker 1: flute or other wind instrument that a that a geisha

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Speaker 1: might study as well. Yeah, that's the thing I remember

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Speaker 1: for me. Memoirs of Agnations. She was always playing her

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Speaker 1: shamasen the three stings three stringed banjo, right, because they

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Speaker 1: have to be perfect. Um. Even once you become a

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Speaker 1: mako or an apprentice Geisia, you then start having to

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Speaker 1: wear sort of prep clothes where these oversized kimonos with

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Speaker 1: with sleeves that reach all the way down to the

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Speaker 1: floor so you can learn how to pour tea or

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Speaker 1: saki without getting your sleeve into the tyr saki. And

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Speaker 1: you you wear these really elaborate head dresses that are

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Speaker 1: very heavy, very confining shoes. It's not an easy and

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Speaker 1: easy outfit to wear. Yeah, you're all sort of decked

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Speaker 1: out in this and you have to know all these

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Speaker 1: things so that if you're called on to do any

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Speaker 1: of them, you can just do them in a drop

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Speaker 1: of a hat. And this is um. One thing that

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Speaker 1: Geisha learned that I wish that I could learn somehow

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Speaker 1: is they have these classes where you learn how to

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Speaker 1: flatter a shy man, an arrogant man, or disinterested man.

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Speaker 1: Like you learn how to deal with every single type

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Speaker 1: of guy you're going to possibly encounter in your line

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Speaker 1: of work. And that's just that takes some skill to

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Speaker 1: be able to deal with every type of person in

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Speaker 1: a society, right, because, as we mentioned earlier, the ultimate

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Speaker 1: role of a geisha is to reflect this illusion of

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Speaker 1: perfect the perfect woman, yes, the flattering woman at a party.

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Speaker 1: So when you're in the midst of your training, when

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Speaker 1: you are a mako, as Kristen said, you're going to

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Speaker 1: go out to these parties with your older sister and

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Speaker 1: kind of observe, learn how to play the part of

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Speaker 1: the perfect hostess. And then eventually, after years of being

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Speaker 1: the apprentice geisha, you can become the full fledged thing,

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Speaker 1: a full fledged entertainer. It's um symbolized and a lot

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Speaker 1: of ceremonies where you change your collar, you drink sake

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Speaker 1: with your older sister um, and then you can be

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Speaker 1: hired out for these parties. And it is not cheap

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Speaker 1: to be hired out for a party. No, a geisha

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Speaker 1: party can cost between two and three hundred dollars per

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Speaker 1: guests for every two hours to the geisha at present,

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Speaker 1: and for that reason, because it's such a high price

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Speaker 1: tag um, Japanese businessmen use geisha parties to impress potential

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Speaker 1: clients and really kind of kick back with the boys

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Speaker 1: because it's a chance to break away from the more

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Speaker 1: rigid aspects of Japanese society, all while showing how wealthy

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Speaker 1: and cultured you are to have these lovely ladies coming

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Speaker 1: in and entertaining. Right. But Mala, you can't. You can't

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Speaker 1: just call up a geisha and hey, Geisha, let's have

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Speaker 1: a party now. It's very it's very strict. If you

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Speaker 1: want a geisha to host a party, you have to

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Speaker 1: either go through the geisha house or call a tea

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Speaker 1: house where Geisha and Chane and the each gates. She

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Speaker 1: kind of has a booking agent, if you will, that

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Speaker 1: will send her out to different appointments. And it kind

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Speaker 1: of sounds glamorous to go to parties and entertain for

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Speaker 1: two hours and walk home with hundreds of dollars. But

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Speaker 1: it is a lot of work. You know, you are

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Speaker 1: working every minute to make sure every guest feels special.

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Speaker 1: They always have a full clup of sake, you know,

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Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you gotta stuff everything and dance

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Speaker 1: and sing and play a Shamison and Molly the kicker

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Speaker 1: for me. You can't eat, no eating at the party.

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Speaker 1: You just can't eat while while they work. So they

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Speaker 1: have to be on point all the time, I mean

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Speaker 1: for all of this hard work geishaw will receive a

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Speaker 1: number of generous tips, probably from from these businessmen. Uh

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Speaker 1: but Molly, that kind of still sounds like a form

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Speaker 1: of at least escorting maybe, right, That's what was going

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Speaker 1: through my mind. This, you know, does sound a bit

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Speaker 1: like prostitution. But actually there's sort of a very uh

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Speaker 1: rigid dating code in the gaish A world. When you

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Speaker 1: find a man, it's a it's a fairly monogamous thing.

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Speaker 1: He's sort of your patron, uh, he's termed the Dana

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Speaker 1: of you, and there's a very uh specific ceremony perform

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Speaker 1: where you kind of unite yourself with this guy, very

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Speaker 1: similar to a marriage, and you're faithful to him until

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Speaker 1: a time when you perform another ceremony that says, you know,

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Speaker 1: we're not exclusive anymore. Yeah. So there are options, formal

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Speaker 1: options for a geisha to have a monogamous sexual relationship

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Speaker 1: with a client. But it's not like you're probably gonna

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Speaker 1: go home with the client every night. You don't have time. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Part of the reason you have no time, Christen, is

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Speaker 1: that there's a lot of work involved in just getting

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Speaker 1: ready for one party. And this is another reason why

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Speaker 1: I don't think that gays should probably become immedia millionaires

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Speaker 1: from all these tips and this hourly wage. So much

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Speaker 1: of their time and money goes to their upkeep. If

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Speaker 1: you're a living work of art, then you've got to

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Speaker 1: look like a living work of art all times. Right

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Speaker 1: on top of the money that goes back to the

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Speaker 1: geisha house, the geisha also has to buy very expensive

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Speaker 1: kimonos and makeup and hair accessories to make themselves into

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Speaker 1: that that gorgeous doll. Right, so let's go through a

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Speaker 1: little bit of what getting ready to entertain might be like.

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Speaker 1: It's not like you just get dressed by yourself. You

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Speaker 1: were putting on these very heavy robes. You've got to

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Speaker 1: have basically a dresser who knows how to do underlayers

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Speaker 1: and overlayers and tai sasha certain ways. Then it's time

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Speaker 1: for makeup. And you know a fun fact. Originally the makeup,

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Speaker 1: that white makeup they put on was poisonous, yeah, but

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Speaker 1: now it is It is harmless um and and it

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Speaker 1: starts with a layer of oil and then wax on

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Speaker 1: the face to smooth out all all imperfections. And then

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Speaker 1: on top of that goes the white powder that we

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Speaker 1: think of when we think of the geisha makeup, and

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Speaker 1: then you apply the red lipstick just to the lower

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Speaker 1: lip if you're an apprentice, if you're an apprentice ran

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Speaker 1: once you're full fledged geisha, it's both lips. And if

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Speaker 1: you don't notice the lip thing, you can tell um

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Speaker 1: which kind of geisha is a witch based on their hairstyle,

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Speaker 1: because these women spend hours at the hairstyle is getting

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Speaker 1: a very specific type of hairstyle to note to note

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Speaker 1: their status. Um. In fact, some women will sleep on

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Speaker 1: special pillows have a hole in the middle so they

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Speaker 1: don't ruin their fancy hairstyles while they sleep. Just pretty

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Speaker 1: pretty ingenious, I guess, um. But another way I'm like

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Speaker 1: to tell the difference between an apprentice geisha and a

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Speaker 1: full fledge geisha is to look at the neckline. Uh.

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Speaker 1: They actually call the ceremony when an apprentice becomes a

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Speaker 1: geisha the changing of the collar, because a geisha will

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Speaker 1: actually reveal her neckline with the kimono, unlike the apprentice.

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Speaker 1: Because the Japanese fine a woman's decline to be very

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Speaker 1: very alluring. So there's that. There's the color of the

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Speaker 1: color also plays a role, and the hairstyle, which again

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Speaker 1: we can't really describe very well on a podcast, but um,

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Speaker 1: basically they're saying a man be of to walk into

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Speaker 1: a room and look at the hairstyles of all the

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Speaker 1: women and know who is here. And then another interesting

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Speaker 1: thing I noticed from looking at photos of geisha's if

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Speaker 1: you look at the back of a geisha's neck, you'll

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Speaker 1: see a little bit of skin that they leave, um

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Speaker 1: without the white makeup on it, just below the neckline.

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Speaker 1: I thought was kind of looked like almost two triangles

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Speaker 1: right below or sorry, right below their hairline on their neckline. Now,

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Speaker 1: isn't this description getting ready present and one of your

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Speaker 1: favorite books Kristen? Well, Molly, In fact, it is. There's

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Speaker 1: a lot of details on the of this in Memoirs

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Speaker 1: of a Geisha, which, as we mentioned, it's you know,

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Speaker 1: it's not exactly uh perfect history, but it is a

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Speaker 1: fun read. And if you do happen to go over

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Speaker 1: in Japan, will you see a geisha today? That's what

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Speaker 1: the New York Times was saying that, you know, you

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Speaker 1: can't threaten the geisha and their natural habitat they're on

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Speaker 1: their way to work. But what is a geisha like today, Well, Molly,

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Speaker 1: a geisha today isn't isn't that much different from a

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Speaker 1: geisha up back in the day. I mean, they still

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Speaker 1: do the scope through the same process of training that

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Speaker 1: involves mastering music and dance and uh current events and

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Speaker 1: everything to make them into the perfect hostess. Right, there's

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Speaker 1: just far fewer of them, uh. You know, in the

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Speaker 1: height of the geisha period in the eighty thousand registered geisha,

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Speaker 1: and the number has steadily dropped to now they're probably

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Speaker 1: around only a thousand geisha left in Japan. And that's

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Speaker 1: probably one of the reasons why Kyoto's had to put

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Speaker 1: up those warnings to stay away from the geisha, because

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Speaker 1: since there are so few of them, people are just

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Speaker 1: camped out waiting to see the elusive geisha going to

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Speaker 1: one of her appointments. But you know, when we were

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Speaker 1: researching this, one fun thing that you found is, you know,

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Speaker 1: if you're sitting there with your camera, be sure you've

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Speaker 1: got like a real geisha in your site. Because a

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Speaker 1: very popular tourist thing to do right now in Japan

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Speaker 1: is to go to a studio where they essentially for

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Speaker 1: three hundred bucks about you know, they'll dress you up

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Speaker 1: in the kimono, they'll do your hair, put on the

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Speaker 1: makeup and take photos of you dress as a geisha. Um.

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Speaker 1: It's supposedly a pretty booming industry around Kyoto. And for

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Speaker 1: an extra fee, they'll even let you walk around the

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Speaker 1: streets as though you are a geisha. UM. So that's

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Speaker 1: if that's your thing and you've got a few hundred

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Speaker 1: bucks laying around, you might be able to live your own,

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Speaker 1: your own life as a geisha. So I think that

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Speaker 1: that does sort of show that people understand that it's

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Speaker 1: not just glorified prostitution. People recognize it now as a

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Speaker 1: piece of Japan's history, something worth emulating, something worth driving

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Speaker 1: for to be sort of this, you know, beautiful, educated,

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Speaker 1: cultured woman. And there was an article recently in the

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Speaker 1: Guardian newspaper that reported a small resurgence in geisha. They're

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Speaker 1: they're saying that since Japan is trying less and less

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Speaker 1: to be uh to emulate Western culture, they're coming back

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Speaker 1: to embracing this idea um of of the geisha, and

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Speaker 1: a lot more girls are signing up to to be

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Speaker 1: trained as geisha. It's pretty interesting if you want to

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Speaker 1: learn more about how that process works. You've got a

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Speaker 1: great article on our site, how geisha work by Julia Layton,

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Speaker 1: and if you want to send me or Molly question

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Speaker 1: or comment, you can email us at mom stuff at

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Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. For more on this and

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Speaker 1: thousands of other topics, is that how stuff works dot com.

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Speaker 1: Want more how stuff works, check out our blogs on

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Speaker 1: the how stuff works dot com home page. Brought to

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Speaker 1: you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready,

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