| Fukuya paints on geisha makeup | Music | 00:00 |
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| MARK WILLACY, REPORTER: Since she was a girl growing up in faraway Tokyo, Fukuya dreamed of entering the floating world of the geisha. | 00:08 |
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| Despite her parents’ protests, she made her way to Kyoto and was accepted into the “Takemoto Akya”, or Geisha House. | 00:21 |
| Fukuya dons kimono | Here in the flower district of Miyagawa, she has blossomed into a geisha. | 00:36 |
| Fukuya. Super: | FUKUYA (voiceover translation): I always wanted to wear the Kimono and was interested in the performing arts, so I wanted to become a geisha and live this life as much as I could. | 00:42 |
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| MARK WILLACY: This is a world wrapped in layers of protocol and precision. | 00:55 |
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| And for five years, Fukuya has immersed herself in the ritual of the geisha - music, poetry, literature and dance. | 01:01 |
| Fukuya | FUKUYA (voiceover translation): Japan has a great culture and I don't want it to die out. I want more girls to show an interest in becoming a geisha. | 01:09 |
| Fukuya leaves Akya | MARK WILLACY: From the Akya, Fukuya is venturing out into the lantern-lit streets for her rendezvous with her client. | 01:23 |
| Fukuya on street | But the sight of these elusive ghosts floating through Kyoto's famous flower districts is becoming rare indeed. | 01:36 |
| Rie closes door and sits at computer | Rie Takemoto is the owner of the Takemoto Geisha House. To her girls, she's "Okasan", or mother . But she's also an astute businesswoman, who's using the technology of the internet to revive the tradition of the geisha. | 01:46 |
| Rie. Super: | RIE TAKEMOTO: (voiceover translation): This is a gateway for girls who want to become geisha and don't know how to. We're hoping the website will connect us with girls who want to become artists like us. | 02:07 |
| Rie with advisers | MARK WILLACY: In her quest to keep this performance art alive, Rie Takemoto has enlisted a former English naval officer to open up this reclusive community to the internet. | 02:21 |
| Alex. Super: | ALEX: It's quite a closed world, so this'll be the first time really that people from outside of Japan can come in and, you know, actually have an authentic sort of time and evening with a geisha. | 02:30 |
| Willacy to camera. Super: | MARK WILLACY: Once, there were 80,000 geisha throughout Japan, now it's seems it's something of a dying art. It's believed there are fewer than 1,000 of these performing artists left, and it's feared the economic downturn will see more geisha desert the so-called "floating world". | 02:43 |
| Geisha on street | A waning interest in traditional Japanese arts, the exclusive nature and cost of hiring geisha, is all putting pressure on this artistic community. | 03:02 |
| Tourists photograph geisha | These performers remain a precious jewel in Kyoto's tourism crown, but at a cost to the geisha. | 03:14 |
| Rikiya exits restaurant | This is where Rikiya Yamamoto steps in. | 03:26 |
| Rikiya patrols with others | The restaurant owner and other Kyoto businessmen have banded together to protect the geisha from bad mannered tourists. | 03:35 |
| Rikiya. Super: | RIKIYA YAMAMOTO (voiceover translation): Some grab the shoulders of the geisha, and others pull at the sleeves of their kimonos. The tourists force the geisha to run on their high clogs, which is very dangerous. | 03:42 |
| Rikiya greets Ayano | MARK WILLACY: Tonight Mr Yamamoto and his patrol are escorting Ayano to her appointment in the Gion flower district, while at the same time trying to keep the tourists at bay. | 03:55 |
| Ayano. Super: | AYANO (voiceover translation): There are lots of tourists in the street, so the patrols help control the crowds, which lets me walk to my appointments. | 04:08 |
| Ayano into restaurant | MARK WILLACY: For the tourists, a mere glimpse at these mysterious creatures sends them into photographic frenzy. TOURIST: They're valued, | 04:18 |
| Irish tourist | I suppose they're a bit like movie stars, everyone running after them with cameras. And I suppose I got drawn into that myself. | 04:25 |
| Performance | MARK WILLACY: The ancient capital of Kyoto is a monument to Japanese art, architecture, religion and ritual. | 04:35 |
| Tourists in Kyoto | Every year, 50 million tourists visit its temples, gardens and shrines and seek out its geisha. But it's feared the global financial crisis could soon see the well-worn streets of this beautiful city deserted. | 04:43 |
| Rikiya | RIKIYA YAMAMOTO (voiceover translation): The number of foreign tourists is already declining. The economic situation is worsening, and the number of people using geisha as entertainment is decreasing. | 05:00 |
| Geisha dance | MARK WILLACY: For the geisha of Kyoto, the economic downturn is yet another challenge to a tradition already fighting the twin demons of Japanese apathy and modernity. | 05:12 |
| Fukuya | FUKUYA (voiceover translation): Yes, I worry very much. If our customers suffer because of the economic situation, they will not be able to afford us to perform for them any more. So I am worried very much. | 05:21 |
| Fukuya walks street at night | MARK WILLACY: Japan has long been a living, breathing contradiction between the past and future. Geisha like Fukuya pray that their floating world won't fall victim to the sinking economy of the real outside world. Mark Willacy, Lateline. | 05:35 |
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| Reporter: Mark Willacy | 06:03 |