In the stifling summer heat at the roadside Yebisu Beer stall in Kyoto's Gion district, Sakiko, dressed in a thick floral kimono, face plastered in white makeup, looks flustered as two foreign tourists photograph her.
"Pouring beer here is different but fun," said Sakiko, one of about 90 apprentice geisha, or "maiko," left in a shrinking industry that's seeking ways to adapt as Japan emerges from its worst postwar recession. "I get to talk with people I wouldn't meet in my usual work."
Filling mugs at European-style pubs and using English-language Web sites to attract business is a long way from the discreet private dinners traditionally organized by the teahouses where geisha train and live.
A traditional two-hour dinner with a geisha, who will entertain with music, dance performances and conversation, can cost as much as ¥67,000, more than half of which goes to the teahouse and an arranger, said Chris Rowthorn, who has been organizing geisha entertainment for four years in Kyoto, the birthplace of the performing art about 400 years ago.