Maiko-san
Originally uploaded by Tokyorosa
This morning, two things:
One is this photo of maiko-san, an apprentice geisha, whom I saw performing, along with her companion, in Kyoto Station of all places.
Americans are fascinated with these little living Japanese dolls, but make no mistake: Maiko-san tend not to be beautiful women. In fact, I could stand on any street corner in Tokyo and in two minutes come up with ten women who were more beautiful than these two maiko-san. They were not beautiful, no, but they were, with their elaborate makeup and costume, their precise, rehearsed motions, incredibly striking. The beauty they did have came from their strangeness and from their extreme sense of composure.
The other thing is a quote from Stephen Colbert being interviewed by Larry King:
Stephen Colbert: I'm hard to embarrass.
Do you see how all these things are actually the same thing?
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