Upon meeting Michi Ogawa, who is deftly aligning the collar of a kimono that she has tucked around her guest, a few adjectives might come to mind, like "graceful" and "soft-spoken," but "feminist" or "outspoken" probably wouldn't be among them. But speak with her about her concerns and some of your preconceptions about "typical" middle-aged Japanese women may be shaken.
Ogawa, 60, is executive director of WAK Japan, a company with a mostly all-female staff offering hands-on cultural experiences to foreign visitors to Kyoto. WAK, which originally stood for Women's Association of Kyoto, was started by a group of female Japanese-language instructors to create jobs for local Japanese women.
WAK's customers choose from a menu of traditional arts and culture lessons, ranging from tea practice and ikebana to cooking and martial arts. They can either opt for a visit to a teacher's home, accompanied by a bilingual attendant, or choose a lower-priced lesson at WAK's center in downtown Kyoto. WAK also caters to special requests, such as a visit to ordinarily off-limits temple grounds or a lesson on social graces from a Gion geisha.