When made up for work, Norie is perhaps as close to the classic image of Japan as you could wish. Clad in a colorful yet demure kimono, wooden sandals and a jet-black wig that provides a striking contrast to the white makeup lavished on her fine features, she looks like a doll.
Her posture is like a ballerina's. As we stroll along the streets of her Asakusa neighborhood, passersby look on wistfully. Two young elementary school girls stop dead in their tracks, transfixed by this walking work of art. "Would you like to become a geisha, too?" Norie quizzes, bringing grins and giggles that need no linguistic expansion.