Becoming Maiko

Ever since coming to Japan, I have wanted to dress up as a maiko (apprentice geisha) and so one weekend in June, myself and my two lovely girly friends Dani and Natasha, made the trip to Kyoto to do just that.
It was every bit as fun as I was hoping. We had originally signed up to do a walking package, meaning that once we were all dressed up we could head out onto the streets in Gion taking pictures and the like. Unfortunately the weather was not on our side so we could only get our photos taken in the studio and then have 10 minutes free time where we were allowed to take pictures with our own cameras, but nevertheless it was still lots of fun.
Firstly we went through the packages and extras we could get before heading into a room to get undressed and into some rather 'lovely' robes. We then headed upstairs for our first part of our transformation - the makeup.
It was really weird as it feels as if someone is actually painting your face, then once the face is covered they proceed to slap you with a sponge until the makeup is dried. Then comes the painstaking detail of adding pink around the edges, pink tinted eyes, eye liner, mascara and lip colour. It was pretty relaxing getting all the makeup put on you, and quite fun as the assistants didn't have much English to hand so you would just get little instructions every now and again - 'Look up' 'Keep eyes closed' 'Don't open'.
Then we were moved on to get our hair done. The girls and I opted for the half wig meaning that some of our hair was incorporated into the wig to give a more natural appearance, and I'm really glad we did as looking at the full wigs we definitely looked a lot better.
Once the wig was (painfully) attached, we headed downstairs to a small room filled with various colours of kimonos and asked to pick the one we wanted to wear! Decisions, decisions! I found it incredibly difficult to decide as there were some really gorgeous colours and patterns to choose from. However, I managed to narrow it down to two -a green one and a purple one, and with the help of the assistant, I eventually went for the purple - a choice I am really happy about!
We then went in the next room ready to be dressed in our kimonos. It was crazy the amount of layering that went into putting the kimonos on, and after each layer I was able to breathe that little bit less! I didn't realise how heavy everything would be, and I was almost glad we weren't allowed outside as I think I would overheat in all the fabric! It also made me realise why maikos have such good posture - you literally could not slouch once all the kimono was put in place!
Then we went to the studio and got our photos taken, at the end of it taking away a lovely booklet of 14 photos including 2 with the three of us! Then we headed downstairs to take photos with our own cameras (see photos below) and then headed back upstairs to take off the kimono (what a relief) and wig (now I feel light) and then back downstairs to take off the makeup and have a sneaky little photo shoot of our own showing off our make-upped faces! It was a really fun experience and well worth the money. I may even be tempted to do it again in the future. Who wants to come with me?!

Dani, Natasha and myself showing off the kimonos!

hmmmmm

Playing a bit of janken (rock, paper, scissors)

Stupid facial expression, but you get the point!

Scary make up!

Trying to make hearts with our lips!

This is why maiko don't smile with their teeth!

 Ah yes, one last thing. We decided to go out clubbing in Osaka on the Saturday night so needed somewhere cheap to stay. I was very happy when we decided to use a capsule hotel that night - something that was on my Japanese bucket list. I was very happy with my experience, and although being a little warm in the night, the capsule was a perfect size for me and I slept very well. I would definitely be willing to do another capsule hotel again.

My first capsule hotel experience - very roomy!