Whilst Memoirs of a Geisha is a fictional story, Arthur Golden did interview two ex-geisha during his researching phase. The first geisha he spoke with was Kiharu Nakamura, whom he spent an evening speaking with. Kiharu-san has her own biography out about her life as a Shimbashi Geisha. The second geisha he spoke with, and whom he gives a lot of credit to in helping him understand the geisha world is Mineko Iwasaki, who was a very famous maiko and geiko in Gion, Kyoto.

Yes I have. I first read Memoirs of a Geisha shortly after it was first published and released in Australia in 1998 and have read it a few other times over the past years. See similar questions...

However, I do give credit to the novel with helping open many eyes to the world of geisha that may never have known otherwise. Whilst Mr. Golden did researching and interviewing to remain as accurate and as true to the geisha world, it is important that one must remember that it is essentially a fictional novel written by a Western man. See similar questions...

The first book I generally recommend is Mineko Iwasaki's biography due to her involvement with the creation of Memoirs of a Geisha and the lawsuit that followed. It is an interesting look into the life of one of the most famous geisha to emerge from Gion. See similar questions...

Sayuri, Mameha, Pumpkin and Hatsumomo are all fictional character created by Arthur Golden. Because of this, you will not find any further information about them nor will you find photographs or travel posters as none of them never truly existed. See similar questions...

Yes I did enjoy reading Memoirs of a Geisha the first time, despite the fact there are numerous inaccuracies (which will be addressed in the near future). It was an entertaining story but I did feel that it was a rather Western approach to a Japanese "love" story. I believe Lesley Downer described it the best as a "Cinderella" story in Japanese guise. See similar questions...

No I made that up, but I know another guy who did something similar. He thought he would short out the fence and it arced...and knocked him over See similar questions...

The word Geisha literally translates to "arts person" or "one trained in arts" (gei = art, sha = person). It is also sometimes described as "women of arts, which is exactly what a Geisha is - a woman trained in the traditional arts of Japan such as dance, music, singing to name a few. See similar questions...

If I am given proof that any of her claims on the site's Claims page are true, I will post that proof. If the majority of those claims are proven to be true, and if the majority of the questions on the site's Questions page are answered to my satisfaction (and in a way which supports her story), I will take this site down and replace it with an apology to "Kaz." See similar questions...

To be completely honest and frank, there really is 0% chance of becoming a geisha if you are not of Japanese desent or extremely skilled in various arts of the geisha (and even then I highly doubt it will be the case). b) Liza did not go there with the purpose of becoming a geisha, nor did she ask to become a geisha. It was the geisha themselves that suggested to her that to further her studies, she should become a geisha. See similar questions...

Just about anything that is not blatant fantasy... and even some of that is in a grey area. No, we don't actually visit anime worlds (we should be so lucky). Yes, we really are such dedicated otaku that if the opportunity arose, we would probably wait until we were done watching the current video. Strips pertaining to the cat's behavior are almost always literal, although her reasons for doing so may not be exactly as we present them. See similar questions...

The book's central idea is true (meeting the angel), the journey to Mojave too, but much of what is written is fictionalized. Nevertheless, the most important episode - the meeting of the angel - really did happen, and I left a statue of the Lady of Aparecida in Glorieta Canyon, near Borrego Springs, CA. See similar questions...

Like with James Cameron's Titanic, The Last Samurai is a fictional character story placed in an actual historic event and time setting. While the story of Captain Algren isn't true (just like the story of Jack and Rose isn't true in Titanic), the events that surround Algren and the time period are true. In 1877, the Samurai lost their final major battle, during a rebellion, when they went up against more modern weaponry. This factual event is part of the basis of the telling of The Last Samurai. See similar questions...

Not exactly. The Thing That Should Not Be is a similar creature to the Ktulu who also dwells in the underground. The band decided to continue the story but with a different creature. See similar questions...

Film historian William K. Everson reviewed Memoirs of a Star in The New York Times when it came out. His thesis on the book was that it "is true in essence if not in details." And that essentially runs true when you read it today. Pola did not set out to lie about her career in Memoirs; in fact, she says in the book a couple of times that her goal was to set forth "the truth" about what happened to her. See similar questions...

Whist their appearances are very similar, the main difference between Geiko and Geisha is largely their location, and also certain customs and traditions. The word "Geiko" derives from the Kyoto dialect of the word and is generally used to refer to those from the Kyoto hanamachi. The word "Geisha", which is the more well known version of the word, is actually the Tokyo dialect for "Geiko". See similar questions...

Most certainly not! A Maiko and Geisha's profession is based on preserving the traditional arts such as dance, singing and music and entertaining in a non-sexual manner. The confusion as to whether Geisha are prostitutes or not seems to have stemmed both from the close proximity Geisha had to courtesans in the Edo era and the fact that they did technically originate from the red light districts. The main culprit though appears to be from post World War II occupation by U.S. service men. Many U. See similar questions...

No, NONE of the movie is real. It's not "based on a true story" which half of Hollywood pretends to be because it keeps it real, man; it was based on a Japanese movie (by Nakata Hideo) which itself was based on a Japanese book (by Suzuki Koji), in which the Rachel character was male and the Noah character was a confessed serial rapist. And no, we're not making that up. See similar questions...

Do you really think I would tell such a story if it weren't true? Actually, bottom line: I tell the truth sometimes. And no, I did not get engaged because Michelle got sick of my calling her a PASSLQ. By the way, we did finally get married in 1998. So now she can't leave me without some serious legal maneuvering... See similar questions...