Monday, January 4, 2010

Hajimemashite!

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We interrupt the last interruption of our First Night coverage because this is too good to pass up.

The St. Louis Art Museum has had a show about Japanese screens, produced with the Chicago Art Institute. We've been wanting to see it and since yesterday was closing day it was, uh, time to get over there. My wife and I entered the museum by a back door near the parking lot and walked by a little cafe run by the Wolfgang Puck outfit - and I stopped dead in my tracks.

Who and what was ordering coffee (and not ocha)? I had to have a picture but what should I say, excuse me or sumimasen? Well, the ladies are members of Kimonosan of St. Louis, which provides geisha and maiko themed entertainment. A maiko is a geisha in training. Their April group show in Kyoto is renowned. These American geishas were attending the last day of the exhibition. Gee, we could have a tea ceremony right in our home, except my Western legs can't sit crossed on the floor for more than a couple of minutes.

They bowed and said arigato after I took several photos. Well, domo arigato to them. And one moral of the story: never walk out the door without your camera.

9 comments:

Stefan Jansson said...

They do look very serious.

Luis Gomez said...

Bob, you are right. You never know where the photo is going to be. Great images. Keep on carrying your camera.

Olivier said...

sympathique ces portraits posés.
J'aime ces masques

Virginia said...

Great shots and I hear ya about taking your camera everywhere, but Bob, I think you need to stop dragging it in the shower with you, that couldn't be good for it!

brattcat said...

Oh, yeah, you've got that right. These are fantastic.

Jilly said...

Amazing how white make up and the hair immediately make us forget these are not real Japanese women. Fabulous, Bob! My goodness, we've gone from crazy men on machines flying over water to Japanese ladies that aren't. It obviously all happens in Saint Louis.

Nathalie H.D. said...

Indeed never walk out the door without your camera. Ever. Not you! To think that you could have missed THAT!

I can only second Jilly's comment. Stupendous.

Louis la Vache said...

Very interesting!

Mme la Vache lived in Japan for 15 years.

Leif Hagen said...

Nancy, Barbara and Maria did a good job getting "dressed up" in Kimonos! Domo arigato gozaimashita!