My experience as a Maiko-san in Kyoto

continuation of my japan posts.
Helloo! Is this post a year overdue? Yeah I think so. I intended to post this right after my Kyoto trip, but the only reason why I didn't post it might sound silly to you. Basically I don't feel so photogenic as a Maiko! Silly reason right? It's just a bit embarrassing for me because I like to post good pictures of myself. Yes, I am shallow like that. But I promised I would do it, so here I am: posting about my maiko-henshin experience (maiko transformation). It's was a by far one of the best experiences in Kyoto. Everything was arranged by my host-mom and I seriously doubt I could do anything without my host family's help. They were simply the best. I am going to quote some things I remember hearing from my host-mom so if there is any mistakes I probably remembered it wrongly.

You can read about my Kyoto post here and the whole Japan tag here.

The word maiko literally translates to "dancing child" (mai = dance, ko = child). A maiko is an apprentice geiko (same as geisha, just in Kyoto dialect) who must undergo a period of training where she learns the various arts such as dancing, singing, music and learning the dialect of Kyoto. The term geiko is more popular used and means "child of art" (gei = art, ko = child) rather than geisha  "person of art" (gei = art, sha = person). 

I was unable to take pictures, but luckily my host-dad could! I am so happy they turned out so great~ He even took pictures inside the house and that's really awesome because it's so easy to forget places and little interactions here and there so seeing pictures really sparks my memory.

The maiko-henshin studio was small, but the people were very nice. You enter the place, they greet you and  we discuss what kind of plan you want - different plans, different prices. I chose the one where I get my make-up done, choose my kimono, select four pictures for my photo-album and I get to walk around Gion for 60 minutes. You can also get a professional photographer to accompany you, but that's pricier!

By the time I had decided, everything was happening really fast after that. I'm stripped down to my bra and they began removing my make-up and applying the white base (an oil called Binzuka Abura, used for Kabuki as well.) I can still remember the cold brush against my skin and whoosh whoosh all done. So quick! I took a peak and I almost fainted! I looked like a ghost! I was actually terrified of myself. I couldn't see my lashes or anything. It was just all white! At that point I was in regret because I looked horrible, but after she finished my make-up I loved it. The first picture shows the final make-up look. I really love it! LOL you can see my brows are a lot thicker but she just covered it with the oil.

I am wearing a semi-wig where they use the front and the back of my hair and they tuck my hair into the wig and brush some oil on it. It looks more natural than wearing a full wig. fyi it is frickin' heavy! This is no joke. It was like walking with a huge stone on top of my head lol it was really tight as well.

Did you know that a maiko can develop a bald spot because of the hair tugging? Also: a maiko sleep with their neck supported on a special wood block. Maiko do not wear a wig (like I did) so it's necessary to sleep on those special supports to preserve the shape of their hair. 

After the make-up, I get dressed! Getting dressed was fun and seemed complicated with all the layers. I am klutz when it comes to clothes so of course I am even more of a klutz when it comes to kimonos. Luckily my host-mom really knows her stuff and she picked out the kimono and hair flower accessory for me: I remember it was Wisteria because of the season. It's cool to know I am trying to be authentic :-) The kimono had so many layers and it was tight too. It was definitely something to get used to because it was so STRAIGHT. I couldn't bend so it was all about posture, posture, posture. If I thought my hair was heavy, I obviously had no idea that my kimono was going to be even heavier.

The kimonos geisha/geiko/maiko wear are much more expensive than what I am wearing! By much more, I really mean crazy expensive. I don't remember exact prices though. Besides the kimonos, maiko wear platform sandals which are several inches high - probably higher than what I am wearing. To think that you can dance gracefully in these heavy kimonos is quite amazing.

Then we head down to a shrine. It's a professional photographer who takes your pictures and he will help you get into the right pose. I am really not the best model so I bet he was a bit frustrated with me :-( I rarely get my pictures taken ya know. So I was really awkward! Sorry! 

After the photo-shoot I am free to walk around in Gion! 60 minutes don't sound like a lot, but it is. Especially in a scorching hot day wearing a super-duper heavy-hot kimono. I am easily hot too so multiply the heat with a factor twelve. We basically walked around and I pretended to be a maiko and I remember seeing people turn around and hearing "maiko, maiko, maiko" and "kawaii!". Before I was dressed up we met a elderly couple who wearing saying "it's just a fake maiko people" and we were conversing with them and all - ironically I was going to dress up as a maiko a couple of hours later lol. By the way: I was not the only one doing maiko-henshin because I met many other fake Maiko-san in Gion o(〃＾▽＾〃)o

Overall an awesome experience. Naturally I am a bit shy so I was indeed overwhelmed with how much attention you get, but it was so worth it. It was a very memorable experience which I could not have experienced without the help from my host-family. It was expensive, but definitely worth it.

How often can you say that you got to walk around as a Maiko in Kyoto? Not very often! 

The plan I chose cost 13.500yen and an additional 2.500yen for the CD-R which is a total of approx. $160USD. 

I wanted the CD-R because I wanted all pictures the photographer took! (●♡∀♡) I don't really care for the prints, but I want the raw images! But to my biggest surprise when I got home to Tokyo, they had actually forgotten to include the CD-R (╥﹏╥) !!! I wrote them an email and they sent me the CD as well as a handwritten note in Japanese. It's very good manners right? I was just glad they hadn't deleted the files after I left the place, but the handwritten note left me with a good feeling. There is just something about handwritten letters opposed to an email.

That's it! 

If you are going to Kyoto and you're thinking "aaah, should I. Is it worth it?" then I hope you do! It's awesome to try something new. It was my first time wearing my hair like that, kimono like that and definitely make-up like that. I got a glimpse of how it feels to wear the make-up and clothes like a maiko, but I can imagine that there is so much more. 

It's quite mysterious world and to me... it just makes it even more exciting!

What do you think of Geishas? Would you try Maiko-henshin?

I bet some people disapprove of Maiko-henshin, but it comes with pros because it keeps the geisha/maiko somewhat interesting and relevant in today's modern Japan. I think many Japanese girls (and foreign girls) want to try it atleast onece because when will you ever get to try it? 

Being a geisha is not only an occupation, but a lifestyle too. 

I believe in God

So my cousin had his confirmation party. Lovely day; it was all family from both sides.
Basically 50/50 Danish and Vietnamese people because his step-dad is Danish. It was held in a little city in the countryside where they live so it was a very cosy party. It was held in a very Danish manner because they had ordered a cater so we didn't had to do a single thing <3 That's just the best thing about Danish parties; I don't have to do damn thing. I just need to be present and eat. I don't have to help with the cooking, cleaning or servicing. So the day was really great.

We also sang and my cousin gave a moving speech for his stepdad and mom. To think that my little cousin could give such a moving AND witty speech! I looked around and it moved many to tears. His speech to his mother was especially moving and I bet it was a very special mom/son moment. My cousin was tearing up as well!!! It's just so darn moving when that happens. The ones giving the speech is about to cry. Talk about AWW-moment.

The food was really good too - a little bit on the heavy side, but very tasty. As entrees we had patty shell with chicken filling and our main course was buffet. There was also dessert which was pancakes with icecream and then we had coffee time with cake and lastly a midnight snack, hotdogs. If all parties were like this, it's no wonder we get a bit soft （‐＾▽＾‐）

For the party, my sister picked my dress. It's not white, but sort of pink-ish tint and goes really well with my hair. I had flats with me too. Who knows how long we stayed there and wise choice it was. We went home at around 2AM!

For my curosity:
When you arrive to a party/event, what do you do? (you don't know them)
    (a) Do a round where you shake hands with everybody?
    (b) Silently smiles at people / wave and casually say hi.

Well, Danish people do the a round with handshakes. I am just happy I was early for my cousin's party because then people come and greet me! I am really awkward with handshakes and it just doesn't come naturally for me. When I meet strangers, I am more for waving from a distance with a "hi" （￣ー￣）

I really want to change that. I want to be the kind of person who extends my hand first.
I just love when people do that! A good handshake is great start~ 

i love kind people

Last week was incredibly boring, but luckily there are always little things that brightens my days.

I have two stories for you.

(1)

On one of my school-days I was running late. I only live 200m from the bus-stop so I thought I could make it and I ran to my bus-stop, but before I could get there - the bus drove by. 

Suddenly a car which had passed me while I was running, starts backing and a window is scrolled down. The man says: "I see your bus just passed by and you obviously didn't catch it. Do you need a ride to the next bus-stop? I bet we can catch up with the bus." A complete stranger just offered me ride! I know what some of you might be thinking: "Don't get into a stranger's car!" but honestly it never crossed my mind that he might have been a complete psychopath so I thanked him and jumped into the car. 

Whether he was or wasn't isn't the point of the story, but just the fact that he was so nice. I mean, don't you guys think it was incredibly nice of him? He wasn't even going in the same direction as me.

(2)

I am sitting at the bus-stop and a homeless man with a loudbox is playing. He starts chatting me up, asking me where I am from and he says something about traveling in Thailand or something. He's a Danish man, but he starts dissing Danish people saying they are lazy, stupid and slow potatoes. At this point, I don't really know what to respond because if I agree he's going to be offended since he's Danish himself so my mouth is just shut. 

Suddenly he says he loves Thai people because they are always ready to fight. I look at him and then he just comes closer at me and this time he has drumsticks in his hands and he just shouts ready to fight! I am really freaked out because it looked like he was going to attack me. Then a man walks across the street and stands right between me and the homeless man. He looks over to the homeless man and says: "Can you turn down that garbage? This is a public place and you need to respect that. You should also stop harassing the young lady. I saw it from the other side of the street." The homeless man does as he's told and the other man stands there for a while and then stands there for 10 minutes and goes back to the other side of the street to buy some food. 

He walked all the way from the other street with his bag to assure that I wasn't going to get harassed. 

That's nice right? He wasn't even from the city! 

***

I guess, I look like person who needs to be saved? I am happy and grateful for their kind actions. 

There are still tons of kind people out there. Sometimes I just forget because most people seem so indifferent. Nowadays everybody has a I-don't-give-a-fuck-attitude and as my old teacher once said -  being indifferent can be worse than doing something wrongly. At least when you are doing something, it shows that you care..

Despite the boring classes, the weather was awesome! The sun was out and the weather was warm.
I wanted to go the park, but I went to a friend's house instead and she made food. She must be used to it because it was done rather quickly. I didn't even know she made it for me until she put in on two plates (＾▽＾)

We carried the food outside and we sat and talked. The day was actually intended for some photographing, but eating food is always nice. I really hope I can go to the park next time. Nothing is better than chilling at the park. Possibly with a cold drink and a sandwich in my hand. Ooh, that sounds so nice~

When the weekend came, I went home because my cousin's confirmation party.

The traffic back home was terrible though. People were driving really stupid that day and they kept driving into each other! There would be an accident on the other side of the road and people would get distracted and thus they create another car accident on their side of the road. So in total; there was 3 accidents right after each other. So it was one long bus-ride home! At one point I could walk out of the bus and just walk right next to the bus. That's how slow it went. It was a Friday too so there was lots of people who was on the road.

When I got home there was a bunch of family drama, but I am not going into to much details about that (＾▽＾)
It will just give you a headache! So let's just stick with the light-hearted stuff..

Oh! before I forget! I DYED MY HAIR! Woohoo. It's just a lighter brown though.
What do you think?

Also: did anything good happen to you lately? Met any nice people or had similar experiences?
Okayyy, see ya very soon! very very soon o (◡‿◡✿)

There is another post and my maiko-henshin experience in queue. Hopefully it's interesting (─‿‿─)