Geishas swap their highbrow teahouse traditions for downmarket beer gardens as recession continues to weigh on their clients' pockets

Geishas swap tea, poetry for beer!

Geishas swap their highbrow teahouse traditions for downmarket beer gardens as recession continues to weigh on their clients' pockets

Say the word 'geisha' and images of beautiful kimono-clad women serving green tea, reciting poetry and playing classical instruments may spring to mind.

In Japan, outsiders pay hundreds of dollars to spend several hours with geishas in tea-houses, with activities including artful conversation and dancing.

Downfall
But a downturn in the global economy appears to be forcing the world of geishas -- the beautiful kimono-clad women to seek more enterprising ways of earning a living by setting up geisha beer gardens.

At the traditional inn Gion Shinmonso in the traditional capital of Japan, geishas are serving beers for ufffd530 (Rs 300), and visitors can raise toasts and make conversations with trainee geishas, called maiko, before they perform the nightly traditional Kyotan dances known as 'kyomai.'

Geisha packs
Meanwhile, the beer garden at Kamischichiken enables visitors to buy a 'geisha starter pack' for $23 (Rs 1,100), including a mug of beer, two snacks and the company of geisha.

"We introduced the service because fewer guests were visiting the inn," a spokesman for Gion Shinmonso said.

"We also wanted people to learn more about maiko and geisha. They have attracted a lot more customers."

The number of geishas peaked at 80,000 in Japan in 1928 but has since declined to an estimated 1,000 across the country.

According to Ayako Itagaki, deputy director of the London office of the Japan National Tourist Organisation, the rise of the geisha beer gardens may help more people gain access to a world that was previously unaffordable.

Roland Kelts, author of Japanamerica, a lecturer at Tokyo's Temple University and a visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo, said that he suspects the idea of a geisha beer garden can really do well.

13, the number of geiko houses left in Japan, which train women to become geishas