09:02Simkin: For nearly four hundred years they have been delighting and beguiling Japanese men. They are the face of traditional Japan, a powerful symbol, the repositories of national culture and ancient eroticism. They inhabit a world with its own language, rituals and strict rules a part of modern Japan and yet separate from it. A world that even today is shrouded in myth and mystique. Tonight, we gain an entrée into the secret world of the geisha and their apprentices, Maiko, to catch an intriguing glimpse of what goes on behind the painted smiles.
01:57
Maiko: Welcome. Thank you for coming.
Customer: Maiko are pure and beautiful. Only virgin girls can be Maiko. You are a virgin are you not?
0125
Simkin: Wonderful perhaps, but also fragile. Japan is changing, ancient culture is dying and despite their history and beauty, so are the geisha.
Simkin: They could be teenagers anywhere. Fukuume is 16, Fukunami 17-- but they aren't your typical teens. They're Maiko -- trainees -- and their job is to fulfil male fantasies while living out their own.Fukuume: Many people dream of becoming a Maiko.
02:38
It certainly was my dream something I longed for. I wanted to wear the kimono that only Maiko can wear, and I heard that Maiko can meet famous actors and actresses.
03:04
Simkin: Two years ago, the girls left their homes in the country to come to Kyoto. Their formal training lasts five years as they learn the art of refinement. Their personalities moulded, their manners polished. Cut off from family and friends, they now refer to each other as sister.
03:26
Fukunami: It is a tougher world than I expected. I cannot dye my hair... we cannot pierce our ears. I have to contact people by letter because telephone calls are banned.Maiko: Please give us a lesson, teacher.
03:55
Simkin: The word geisha means arts person. Maiko must master the traditional Japanese arts of music, dance and song and they spend long hours each day practising. The skills take years to learn and a lifetime to perfect. Their training is supervised by the mama-san, herself a former geisha. As far as she is concerned, discipline is the key.Mama-San: Its the same as an athlete training for the Olympic Games.
04:34
She cannot be liked by some customers and not others. She must be able to cope with all clients and cannot be impudent. If she dances, he must feel it is beautiful; if she sings a song, he must feel good; if she walks, he must think it elegant.
04:54
Simkin: Every afternoon, these girls transform themselves into the epitome of traditional Japanese sex appeal. All traces of individuality are painted over.
05:06
Fukuume: I feel I become a different person from the one who attends dance lessons.
05:12
Simkin: Japanese men find the red colourings tantalising and this fork of naked skin apparently drives them wild. The entire process takes more than an hour.
05:24
Fukuume: I am often told, and I have learnt that we are selling dreams. We have to create a world -- a world that is not real -- for our customers when we entertain them.
Fukunami: I think this is a job that has never changed since early times.
06:00
Other jobs have changed, but not this one.
06:17
Simkin: There are some parts of the job that are changing. Fukuume and Fukunami chose to become geisha, but up until the Second World War, girls as young as six were sold to geisha houses where they worked as virtual slaves. Sex was part of the business. It was not uncommon for a geisha to take a danna, a patron, who would pay all her expenses in exchange for exclusive sexual favours. At the age of thirteen, many girls had their virginity auctioned off. Wealthy men would pay a fortune for the privilege.
07:04
Downer: The deflowerer, who would be quite an elderly man, would meet the geisha every night and rub egg white on her thighs and work his way up a little bit each night, so that in about a week she'd be more used to the idea than she had been to begin with, and then he would actually conduct the deflowering in a private little room and probably wearing -- they would open their kimonos, they wouldn't actually take them off because people didnt do those things naked in those days.
07:38
Simkin: Lesley Downer is an author who spent several years living in Japan. She's an expert in the world of geisha and perceptions of it.
Downer: There's always been this belief that geisha are prostitutes, particularly in the west, which I think is actually wishful thinking on the part of western men. They've built up this kind of daydream of the mysterious orient, full of gorgeous kind of doe-eyed women who'll do anything you please, as opposed to western women who certainly won't. So I think a lot of that comes from that.
08:11
Geisha are no way prostitutes in the sense of a one night stand which is paid for because they dont need to do that. They make a stupendous living, they make an excellent living as dancers, as singers, as performers, as entertainers.
08:30
Simkin: Deflowering is thought to have died out long ago, now few businessmen are interested or financially able to be a danna. This man, Sadajiro Soutsuka, owns one of Japan's most exclusive golf resorts. He's a multi-millionaire and is paying several thousand dollars to be entertained by girls young enough to be his grandchildren. The dancing is beautiful, yet it seems remarkable that is he willing to pay so much for what seems like so little.
09:05
Soutsuka: Maiko and Geiko embody Japanese tradition. They have kept the appearance and form of old style Japanese women. When we look at them, we can revisit the good old days -- the days of elegance.
09:30
Simkin: The truth, though, is that geisha will, if they choose, sell more than an illusion. Sex doesn't have to be part of the bargain, but it can be. At evening's end, the businessman reveals the nature of his relationship with the mama-san.
09:52
Soutsuka: I am the patron of this mama-san. I have known her since she made her debut as a 15 year old.
I did a deflowering ceremony and she went from being a Maiko to a Geiko.
Simkin: Over the years, the patron has spent millions of dollars building his mistress's tea house. He is 72, she is in her early 30s.
10.32
Soutsuka: It has been the custom in Kyoto since the old days for prominent men to have girlfriends in the flower towns. You might think it odd, but I told my wife that I was going to perform the "mizuage" ceremony, and she said "Please do so". So I did it with her permission.
11:10
Simkin: For centuries, geisha have been the consorts and confidantes of Japan's most powerful men tycoons, artists, prime ministers. For the average man though, access to a tea house is an impossible dream you need a personal introduction and vast amounts of money. But most Japanese have never seen, let alone met, a geisha. When Fukuume and Fukunami venture outside, they cause a huge stir. And yet despite all the excitement, geisha numbers are falling dramatically. There were once more than 80,000, now only a few thousand remain.
11:59
Modern Japan wears a very different face. Few young women want to work in the strict, archaic geisha world. Young businessmen would rather visit karaoke clubs or hostess bars. Downer: Probably if geisha were to disappear, the kimono industry in Kyoto would actually collapse. So they are the last part of Japanese society which still lives in a traditional fashion.
12:38
They do things like tea ceremony and flower arrangement, so they do maintain that whole culture which the west thinks of as traditional Japan and without them, that culture I think, would probably die out.
13:07
Simkin: In Tokyo, entire geisha districts have disappeared. This one, in Asakusa, is still operating, although many of its artists have been turned into cheap tourist attractions, wheeled out to peddle trinkets. Suzuno became a geisha 35 years ago, when she was 20. Since then, she's watched the world she's devoted herself to slowly wither away.
13:43
Suzuno: I do not want this world to disappear. I love Japan.
13:48
I want people to value Japan as much as they do their own home. We are one family.
14:04
Simkin: The geisha family is an extended one travel to one of Japan's seaside resorts and you'll find a different class of entertainer.
14:24
Here in Atami, a company president is rewarding his prized customers with a weekend of fun. He's hit the right note by providing food, drink and geisha geisha-lite, a cheaper down market version without the poise and pedigree you find in Kyoto. They are geisha stripped of their mystique, their job is to flatter and flirt. These men are affluent but not nearly wealthy enough to enter the rarefied world of the Kyoto geisha.
15:03
Man in hot spring: If we could go to Kyoto and if we had a lot of money, it would be our dream to have a wonderful night time party with Maiko.
2nd Man in hot spring:: Maiko have airs and graces. Someone who has no experience of a Maiko party cannot understand why they are so special. They are living dolls.
15:40
Simkin: The living dolls face another challenge, too. In Kyoto's most exclusive districts, the real geisha are disappearing but fake ones are thriving. The booming business caters for women who want a quick Maiko makeover.
16:02
Makeover Artist: Now we have electricity, but in the old days, when they used candlelight, people found white make up looked best.
16:13
Simkin: For five hundred dollars, the customer is made up, and dressed up just like the real thing. The kimonos can cost eighty thousand dollars.
16:24
Woman being made up as a Maiko: I do not feel like this is me. I am surprised that I look so beautiful.
16:33
Simkin: The real Maikos are cut off from their families, but here it's very different. This newly wed young woman has come at the insistence of her father-in-law.
16:47
Father in law: Today is a very important day. Our daughter-in-law is a member of our family. We have longed for her to become beautiful in the fake Maiko style. Today is a wonderful day.
17:10
Simkin: To satisfy the snap-happy, fifty fake geisha studios have sprung up around Kyoto. They attract more than half a million customers each year.
17:20
Makeover artist: When tourists visit Kyoto, they used to just visit the temples. Now though, becoming a fake Maiko is the second most popular thing for tourists after visiting temples.
17:35
Simkin: The genuine geisha are not impressed, worried the pretenders will give the true artists a bad name.Mama-San: Maiko and Geiko are jobs that people aspire to, because people say they are beautiful.
17:49
They are proud of that and work hard every day to keep their reputation. Some girls just turn themselves into Maiko instantly and dont worry about being seen smoking in the street and someone whos never seen real Maiko might think they are genuine.
18:18
Simkin: The challenges facing this ancient world are immense, but geisha are survivors. They consider themselves modern career women, in control of their own destiny and not beholden to a male boss or husband. But it's also a world of sacrifice and pain, where falling in love can mean disaster and where the sisterhood can be savage.
Suzuno: It is a hard life. Its beautiful to look at -- but it is very hard every day.
19:02
It's a women's world -- a world of women only. It looks like everyone is getting on well, and being friendly -- but the reality is different.
19:37
Simkin: From the outside it seems so beautiful and enchanting. Each evening the alleyways of Kyoto come to life as the butterflies of the night flit from tea house to tea house. But perhaps it's not really a surprise to know all is not as it seems. This is after all a world built on secrets, dreams and fantasies.
20:11
GEISHA
Reporter: Mark Simkin
Camera: Geoffrey Lye
Sound: Jun Matsuzono
Research: Yayoi Eguchi
Editor: Simon Brynjolffssen
01:57
Maiko: Welcome. Thank you for coming.
Customer: Maiko are pure and beautiful. Only virgin girls can be Maiko. You are a virgin are you not?
0125
Simkin: Wonderful perhaps, but also fragile. Japan is changing, ancient culture is dying and despite their history and beauty, so are the geisha.
Simkin: They could be teenagers anywhere. Fukuume is 16, Fukunami 17-- but they aren't your typical teens. They're Maiko -- trainees -- and their job is to fulfil male fantasies while living out their own.Fukuume: Many people dream of becoming a Maiko.
02:38
It certainly was my dream something I longed for. I wanted to wear the kimono that only Maiko can wear, and I heard that Maiko can meet famous actors and actresses.
03:04
Simkin: Two years ago, the girls left their homes in the country to come to Kyoto. Their formal training lasts five years as they learn the art of refinement. Their personalities moulded, their manners polished. Cut off from family and friends, they now refer to each other as sister.
03:26
Fukunami: It is a tougher world than I expected. I cannot dye my hair... we cannot pierce our ears. I have to contact people by letter because telephone calls are banned.Maiko: Please give us a lesson, teacher.
03:55
Simkin: The word geisha means arts person. Maiko must master the traditional Japanese arts of music, dance and song and they spend long hours each day practising. The skills take years to learn and a lifetime to perfect. Their training is supervised by the mama-san, herself a former geisha. As far as she is concerned, discipline is the key.Mama-San: Its the same as an athlete training for the Olympic Games.
04:34
She cannot be liked by some customers and not others. She must be able to cope with all clients and cannot be impudent. If she dances, he must feel it is beautiful; if she sings a song, he must feel good; if she walks, he must think it elegant.
04:54
Simkin: Every afternoon, these girls transform themselves into the epitome of traditional Japanese sex appeal. All traces of individuality are painted over.
05:06
Fukuume: I feel I become a different person from the one who attends dance lessons.
05:12
Simkin: Japanese men find the red colourings tantalising and this fork of naked skin apparently drives them wild. The entire process takes more than an hour.
05:24
Fukuume: I am often told, and I have learnt that we are selling dreams. We have to create a world -- a world that is not real -- for our customers when we entertain them.
Fukunami: I think this is a job that has never changed since early times.
06:00
Other jobs have changed, but not this one.
06:17
Simkin: There are some parts of the job that are changing. Fukuume and Fukunami chose to become geisha, but up until the Second World War, girls as young as six were sold to geisha houses where they worked as virtual slaves. Sex was part of the business. It was not uncommon for a geisha to take a danna, a patron, who would pay all her expenses in exchange for exclusive sexual favours. At the age of thirteen, many girls had their virginity auctioned off. Wealthy men would pay a fortune for the privilege.
07:04
Downer: The deflowerer, who would be quite an elderly man, would meet the geisha every night and rub egg white on her thighs and work his way up a little bit each night, so that in about a week she'd be more used to the idea than she had been to begin with, and then he would actually conduct the deflowering in a private little room and probably wearing -- they would open their kimonos, they wouldn't actually take them off because people didnt do those things naked in those days.
07:38
Simkin: Lesley Downer is an author who spent several years living in Japan. She's an expert in the world of geisha and perceptions of it.
Downer: There's always been this belief that geisha are prostitutes, particularly in the west, which I think is actually wishful thinking on the part of western men. They've built up this kind of daydream of the mysterious orient, full of gorgeous kind of doe-eyed women who'll do anything you please, as opposed to western women who certainly won't. So I think a lot of that comes from that.
08:11
Geisha are no way prostitutes in the sense of a one night stand which is paid for because they dont need to do that. They make a stupendous living, they make an excellent living as dancers, as singers, as performers, as entertainers.
08:30
Simkin: Deflowering is thought to have died out long ago, now few businessmen are interested or financially able to be a danna. This man, Sadajiro Soutsuka, owns one of Japan's most exclusive golf resorts. He's a multi-millionaire and is paying several thousand dollars to be entertained by girls young enough to be his grandchildren. The dancing is beautiful, yet it seems remarkable that is he willing to pay so much for what seems like so little.
09:05
Soutsuka: Maiko and Geiko embody Japanese tradition. They have kept the appearance and form of old style Japanese women. When we look at them, we can revisit the good old days -- the days of elegance.
09:30
Simkin: The truth, though, is that geisha will, if they choose, sell more than an illusion. Sex doesn't have to be part of the bargain, but it can be. At evening's end, the businessman reveals the nature of his relationship with the mama-san.
09:52
Soutsuka: I am the patron of this mama-san. I have known her since she made her debut as a 15 year old.
I did a deflowering ceremony and she went from being a Maiko to a Geiko.
Simkin: Over the years, the patron has spent millions of dollars building his mistress's tea house. He is 72, she is in her early 30s.
10.32
Soutsuka: It has been the custom in Kyoto since the old days for prominent men to have girlfriends in the flower towns. You might think it odd, but I told my wife that I was going to perform the "mizuage" ceremony, and she said "Please do so". So I did it with her permission.
11:10
Simkin: For centuries, geisha have been the consorts and confidantes of Japan's most powerful men tycoons, artists, prime ministers. For the average man though, access to a tea house is an impossible dream you need a personal introduction and vast amounts of money. But most Japanese have never seen, let alone met, a geisha. When Fukuume and Fukunami venture outside, they cause a huge stir. And yet despite all the excitement, geisha numbers are falling dramatically. There were once more than 80,000, now only a few thousand remain.
11:59
Modern Japan wears a very different face. Few young women want to work in the strict, archaic geisha world. Young businessmen would rather visit karaoke clubs or hostess bars. Downer: Probably if geisha were to disappear, the kimono industry in Kyoto would actually collapse. So they are the last part of Japanese society which still lives in a traditional fashion.
12:38
They do things like tea ceremony and flower arrangement, so they do maintain that whole culture which the west thinks of as traditional Japan and without them, that culture I think, would probably die out.
13:07
Simkin: In Tokyo, entire geisha districts have disappeared. This one, in Asakusa, is still operating, although many of its artists have been turned into cheap tourist attractions, wheeled out to peddle trinkets. Suzuno became a geisha 35 years ago, when she was 20. Since then, she's watched the world she's devoted herself to slowly wither away.
13:43
Suzuno: I do not want this world to disappear. I love Japan.
13:48
I want people to value Japan as much as they do their own home. We are one family.
14:04
Simkin: The geisha family is an extended one travel to one of Japan's seaside resorts and you'll find a different class of entertainer.
14:24
Here in Atami, a company president is rewarding his prized customers with a weekend of fun. He's hit the right note by providing food, drink and geisha geisha-lite, a cheaper down market version without the poise and pedigree you find in Kyoto. They are geisha stripped of their mystique, their job is to flatter and flirt. These men are affluent but not nearly wealthy enough to enter the rarefied world of the Kyoto geisha.
15:03
Man in hot spring: If we could go to Kyoto and if we had a lot of money, it would be our dream to have a wonderful night time party with Maiko.
2nd Man in hot spring:: Maiko have airs and graces. Someone who has no experience of a Maiko party cannot understand why they are so special. They are living dolls.
15:40
Simkin: The living dolls face another challenge, too. In Kyoto's most exclusive districts, the real geisha are disappearing but fake ones are thriving. The booming business caters for women who want a quick Maiko makeover.
16:02
Makeover Artist: Now we have electricity, but in the old days, when they used candlelight, people found white make up looked best.
16:13
Simkin: For five hundred dollars, the customer is made up, and dressed up just like the real thing. The kimonos can cost eighty thousand dollars.
16:24
Woman being made up as a Maiko: I do not feel like this is me. I am surprised that I look so beautiful.
16:33
Simkin: The real Maikos are cut off from their families, but here it's very different. This newly wed young woman has come at the insistence of her father-in-law.
16:47
Father in law: Today is a very important day. Our daughter-in-law is a member of our family. We have longed for her to become beautiful in the fake Maiko style. Today is a wonderful day.
17:10
Simkin: To satisfy the snap-happy, fifty fake geisha studios have sprung up around Kyoto. They attract more than half a million customers each year.
17:20
Makeover artist: When tourists visit Kyoto, they used to just visit the temples. Now though, becoming a fake Maiko is the second most popular thing for tourists after visiting temples.
17:35
Simkin: The genuine geisha are not impressed, worried the pretenders will give the true artists a bad name.Mama-San: Maiko and Geiko are jobs that people aspire to, because people say they are beautiful.
17:49
They are proud of that and work hard every day to keep their reputation. Some girls just turn themselves into Maiko instantly and dont worry about being seen smoking in the street and someone whos never seen real Maiko might think they are genuine.
18:18
Simkin: The challenges facing this ancient world are immense, but geisha are survivors. They consider themselves modern career women, in control of their own destiny and not beholden to a male boss or husband. But it's also a world of sacrifice and pain, where falling in love can mean disaster and where the sisterhood can be savage.
Suzuno: It is a hard life. Its beautiful to look at -- but it is very hard every day.
19:02
It's a women's world -- a world of women only. It looks like everyone is getting on well, and being friendly -- but the reality is different.
19:37
Simkin: From the outside it seems so beautiful and enchanting. Each evening the alleyways of Kyoto come to life as the butterflies of the night flit from tea house to tea house. But perhaps it's not really a surprise to know all is not as it seems. This is after all a world built on secrets, dreams and fantasies.
20:11
GEISHA
Reporter: Mark Simkin
Camera: Geoffrey Lye
Sound: Jun Matsuzono
Research: Yayoi Eguchi
Editor: Simon Brynjolffssen