Geishas are supposed to represent the unattainable women -- the ultimate in desirability, both in beauty and demeanor. But what piqued my interest most were geisha standards of beauty which I fail to understand. Perhaps this is cultural ignorance on my part, but the faces of geisha, painted in powder white and brightly colored accents, made women appear ghostly and cartoonish (image below). Cultural ignorance or not, I think most young Japanese today would agree. Otherwise, women in Tokyo would all walk around painted like geishas or aspiring to be one.
This is an interesting example of standards of beauty differring not only between cultures but between one or two generations within the same culture. The art of geishaing (OK, I made up that verb -- don't use it for Scrabble) flourished only 60 years ago and numbering almost 100,000. Today, they number in the hundreds and will likely reach extinction soon. In just two generations, standards of beauty have changed dramatically along with demand for a dying art once so highly revered. I'll bet some elders will blame "perverting" influence of Western culture for the demise...but that's for another discussion!
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