Geisha

A trip to Gion today (Kyoto's biggest geisha district).

At first, very exciting as there appeared to be some kind of very exclusive event going on which meant that the beautiful geishas were out in force; however this soon became quite an eye-opening and saddening experience as we saw the hoardes of people literally chasing these women down the street to take their picture. I felt bad as it was getting this quick snap of these two ladies disappearing off into their geisha house, but once Dom told me that he had actually seen a geisha hiding in an alleyway to avoid all the cameras, but still having them shoved in her face by tourists that had managed to find her, we decided to put the camera away and leave them in peace.

It seems so tragic that such an age old profession has become such a novelty, and the respect that used to come hand in hand with the title of 'geisha' has vanished. Hopefully this tradition will survive, although, now with the harassment that accompanies it, I can't say that I believe it will do for much longer.