Gion is the geisha district in Kyoto.  It’s the setting for ‘Memoirs of a Geisha,’ one of my favorite books.  I’m rather obsessed with geisha and trace that obsession back to the geisha doll my uncle James sent back to the States for my parents when he was there in the navy.  Her kimono a brilliant red and her face white, her hair shiny black with miniature adornments with her legs fashioned from Japanese-printed newspaper under her kimono: I repeatedly asked to take her to school for show and tell.  Which is why she sort of bent in half after a while – – and now I don’t know where she is.  That doll not only piqued my interest in geisha, I think it ignited my desire to travel.  I obsessed about faraway lands at that early age.

I have watched this video over and over.  Hopefully I will be able to post my own images when I visit.