Turning Japanese

So, once a month.  That's good right?  That's all you really need.  I have no excuses now, other than the fact that I'm a lazy bugger.  How is is already June 21st?  Seriously! 

So for those of you who don't know, I am finishing off my year in Japan and heading Canada-ward.  Probably late Sept.- early Oct.

Well anyway, what did I do after Hiroshima (OMG that was in March!! Wow is anyone still reading this?  Do you still care AT ALL??!!??).  I'll tell you what I did.  In fact, I'll do one better.  I'll show you what I did!  How 'bout I do both, at the same time!

First things first.  Where did I go this time?  KYOTO!  Why did I go there?  We'll get to the main reason, but supplementary purposes involved my friend Danielle.  I've mentioned her before and she's shown up in a picture or two already.  Well, her Mom came to visit her and they did a whole lotta stuff.  Eventually, they headed to Kyoto and I (among others) was invited to join.  Us girls went out our first night and danced until the wee hours of the morning.  However, we had big plans that day and maybe this wasn't such a good idea.  So nursing hangovers, some worse than others, we went to a little place just on the western outskirts of Kyoto called Arashiyama.  We went to see a temple.  It was nice.  Kyoto has a lot of them.  I will probably see a few more before I'm done.  Here are some pics.

Merran and Robin squatting to take a pic.  We became obsessed with "squatting" pictures.

A duck.

One of many "squatting" pictures.  Looks like a band photo desu ne?

More squatting.  Robin is the queen!  Although, Merran sort of came out on top in this photo.

A crazy photo of a huge fish in the man made lake by the temple.  Not my photo.  Courtesy of Merran.

We didn't hang out at the temple too long because we had a previous engagement to attend to (our main reason for coming).  But first we had to meet up with 2 more people.  Both the meeting and the appointment were in Gion (an area of Kyoto) so we booked out and heading off to meet our friends and find our studio.  Meeting our friends went well.  Finding our studio, not so much.  We called, we asked, we wandered.  Eventually, JUST on time we found it.  Japanese streets and addresses and directions are so very confusing.

Here we go a wassailing.  For the record, it wasn't down this street.

Our main reason for coming to Kyoto.  Where were we heading, you ask?  Well, let me show you.

 That's right.  We were heading to a studio to get made over into Maiko.  Which for those of you who haven't seen Memoirs of a Geisha, is an apprentice Geisha.  For the layman it looks the same.  But to those in the know there is a big difference.  The make-up (I think) is slightly different and the kimonos (I know) are different.  But for us, Maiko was good and  it was cheaper to do.

 Here are some of the girls getting done up.  They have you strip down and then put on this hospital gown type under-dress.  You gotta wear the special socks and take off all your jewellery and accessories.  The ladies who do your make up are extremely swift.  They cover your face in an oil, massage it in and before you can say howdy-do you are done.  Well, it's not quite that fast, but considering what and how much stuff they are putting on you your time in the chair is quite short.

Cupboard of various wigs.  I found it kind of creepy.

 I feel it important to point out here that I didn't come completely prepared.  Meaning, I didn't charge my camera battery before I left home.  Guess who needed to charge their camera battery.  But I was given free reign over any available camera, so I did take a lot of these pictures.  Not all but a good amount. 

Close up of the back of Robin's neck.

 Here are some photos of the process of getting ready.  I probably won't comment too much as hopefully the pictures speak for themselves.  I will say, that standing still with your arms slightly raised while a little Japanese woman runs around you and dresses you is an interesting experience.  Oh, and we each got to pick out our own kimonos.  They had a wall of them, which you can kind of see in some of the pictures.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I have a pic of Danielle sitting in front of them.

Danielle being dressed.

It was so hot in here.  Wall of kimonos.

Close up of Merran's neck detail.

Almost done.

Mysterious Maiko.  Sly look over the shoulder.

I was the last one to get my make up on and dressed.

One of the few photos of me "in process."  Every body else was already through.

These things are dangerous.  Danielle and Daisy spend some quality time, stuck together.

Once you have your hair put on, you feel naked without it.  Merran and Danielle.

Photo op, while the photographer was taking group shots.

One of my solo shots.  I loved this kimono!

Another solo, that I edited to give a vintage look.

Danielle and I.  Man, I look so serious!!

Make-up took longer coming off than it did going on.

The whole process took about 4 hours, but there were 7 of us.  And we each got about 20 solo shots.  It was totally worth it, even if the kimonos were hot and constricting.  Robin was first so she must have had an uncomfortable 3 hours!  One thing I have to mention here.  Getting "dressed" was interesting, as I mentioned before and it took a little while. Probably about 5-10 mins from the first layer of clothing to finally getting your hair.  However, getting undressed (again assisted) was, I have to admit, somewhat...stimulating.  I mean, I went from a fully dressed Maiko, to "naked" (wearing only the under-dress) in about 25 seconds.  They literally tear the thing off you and it gets thrown to the floor!  Maybe I've been alone too long, but how is that not stimulating?

So, that was our weekend in Kyoto in a nutshell.  Next post, will be on Golden week.   Which if I don't do before July 3rd then it probably won't get done until August.  July is a busy month.  But I will try to post something before then.  Oh, and this is the only way in which I was turning Japanese.  Because my language skills are still below minimum. :(