| Maikos
are trainee geishas who usually start their two-year training when they are between
15 and 20. Contrary to popular Western opinion they
are not high-class prostitutes, but highly-trained entertainers. They
learn traditional dances, songs and stories so that they can entertain rich clients
in the exclusive teahouses and clubs in the Gion area of Kyoto. Until
recently, you were lucky to catch sight of a maiko as she went from one building
to another, but now they seem to be everywhere; this is because maiko tourism
is a major new industry in Kyoto. 15 agencies offer
young women the opportunity to be a maiko for a day. For
\20,000 they have thick white make up put on, they are dressed in an expensive
kimono and are fitted with a wig weighing 1 kg. They
are then free to wander around photographing each other and enjoying themselves. "It
is every Japanese woman's dream to be a maiko," said one girl. However,
not everybody is happy with this situation. The real
maikos say that people can't tell the difference between the fake maikos and the
real ones. They say that the tourists are ruining
their reputation by smoking, eating and answering portable phones in public -
something a real maiko would never do. Although the
maikos are angry at their imitators, there seems to be nothing that they can really
do about it. | 
