What Would You Ask a Geisha, Part Three

on Monday, 16 March 2009.

In Memoirs of a Geisha, the young Japanese heroine suffers mightily at the hands of a "Mother" who controls her life, and elder “sisters” who torment her.

My impression during my conversation with Kiku ne, the 18-year-old meiko (apprentice geisha) I interviewed in Kyoto, Japan, was that, while her life is not easy, it's one that she herself has chosen, and for which she is willing to endure certain hardships.

Still, she looks forward to the time that she can live independently, marry, and have a family of her own – her dreams are the same dreams as those of millions of young women the world over.

This is the third in series of four videos; Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, Part 4 is here.