Memoirs of 2 silly maikos

It was a very last minute decision to meet my sister in Kyoto who was in Japan on vacation. We didn`t make plans to meet beforehand as I was worried about Shun taking a 4 hour car ride from Matsumoto.

My husband knew that I miss my sister badly and encouraged me to make plans on Saturday night. Made a quick hotel reservation on the internet and packed our bags so that we would be ready to set off for Kyoto the next morning. To our relief , Shun was very cooperative, sleeping almost throughout the 4 hour car ride. Reached Kyoto station at 130pm and I was elated to meet my dear sister.

The next morning, we headed to the maiko makeover studio. Being a makeover addict, I have always wanted to try this. Finally, I found the right opportunity and person to go with.

The result was two silly sisters stumbling around Gion in kimonos snapping photos of each other. My sister kept complaining about the weird wig and heavy kimono, but the vain girl was always ready with a geisha pose (which she picked up from the Japanese period dramas) when I snapped her photos. We should have opted for the half wig which promises a more natural and authentic maiko look but it would cost another S$40. No point in splurging as this was just for fun.

Overall it was a unique experience. Though we didn`t look like the real stunning maikos in Gion, we had fun transforming from an ordinary tourist to maikos in beautiful kimonos. For an hour, we felt and behaved like maikos without the dance as we had difficulty breathing in the tight binding under the kimonos.

It was a relieve to remove the heavy kimonos and white makeup after an hour. With photos of our fake glory in my Nikon D40, we were glad to look like ourselves again and headed to meet my husband for our next destination.