This is Sayuki, who claims to be the first officially white Geisha girl. She started work in Asakusa last week.
Actually, Sayuki is an Australian anthropologist with quite a pedigree—an MBA from Oxford, bragging rights for being the first white girl to enter Keio, film director credits at the BBC and National Geographic, and several books she authored.
Some blogs and news sites have been touting this as a breakthrough moment in the 400-year history of geishahood. Not me. I think "Sayuki" is a brillliant anthropologist who will no doubt write a book about her experiences in a couple years.
Sayuki.net via 3Yen
UPDATE: Actually, Sayuki is NOT the first foreigner/white geisha. As reader Jenn points out, Liza Dalby did this decades ago, as a geisha named Ichigiku. Pics here. (Thanks, Jenn!)
Didn't Liza Dalby already do that? Like, twenty or thirty years ago?
Posted by: Jenn | December 23, 2007 at 11:23 PM
I always think that White girls look bad in Geisha outfit because they are too tall, shoulders too wide, nose too large. Looks like drag queen, not feminine enough.
Posted by: kungfupiggy | December 24, 2007 at 10:04 AM
According to what I have seen, Liza Dalby was not registered as a geisha or accepted as one in the geisha community. She was dressed up as one but not paid and was just doing research for a short time.
Sayuki is the first Westerner to ever have been formally accepted as a geisha.
Posted by: felici | January 03, 2008 at 05:03 PM
I interviewed her recently in Hanami Web. Please check out her interview at:
http://www.hanamiweb.com/topstory24042009.html
Posted by: yaschan | April 23, 2009 at 11:26 PM
It seems that since february/march of this year she has no longer been working as a geisha. She was fired and some sources say her attitude and trying to recruit new girls without permission was the final straw for the community. Her name is also not listed in the registry office anymore.
Posted by: Jenny Montin | May 30, 2011 at 03:53 AM
Sayuki is still working as a geisha and there are lots of recent articles on her website. http://www.sayuki.net
She wasn't fired...her geisha mother got sick and couldn't keep her on. She wasn't allowed to open her own geisha house in March in Asakusa but she is still working as a geisha together with other geisha in Tokyo and also with geisha from Asakusa.
This is a video of one of her student banquets http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6ymVTPblLk
Posted by: D | November 28, 2011 at 05:26 PM