Day 273, Ginza, Japan
On Japanese Girl’s Day, which was May 3, we asked if the girls wanted to do an traditional Japanese make-over. Madi was keen to do so. Today we took her to Ginza, one of the fashion districts in Tokyo, to be a Maiko for a day.
When we first arrived at the studio, we put on slippers, of course.
Then Madi went to the change room and put her clothes in a locker and put on the kimono under garment.
Then she left her slippers at the edge of the kimono room and chose a kimono. There were so many beautiful options to choose from, it wasn’t an easy task.
She ended up choosing this one.
Then she went to the make-up area. First her hair has to go up in a way that it is wig-ready.
The woman who did her make-up has done extensive training to do this type of make-up. Applying the white is very tricky. She has to work fast and make sure there are no streaks or splotches. It is supposed to look like a perfect, uniform skin. The design on the back of the neck is especially important. Only pink hues are used around the eyes, and a red pencil is used in addition to the black eyeliner around the eyes and in the eyebrows. It’s all extremely time consuming and precise.
Done! Now it’s back to the kimono room for the dressing. There are layers and layers to be put on with precision. I don’t know how anyone could have gotten dressed on their own. Each layer is secured with a cloth belt that is wound tightly around the torso.
There was an area in the back with a small red bridge where you could take your own pictures.
This is a popular Japanese selfie pose.
The professional photo shoot was probably the most fun. The pictures are amazing.
They give you small prints of the four pictures of your choice, and put them on a cd for you to take home. Since none of our computers have disc drives, Paul went out and bought a thumb drive and they put them on that. Great day, I would recommend it highly.