京都：生活博物館で舞妓ハッピーアワー＆お茶会

Overall, it was a positive experience, but certain aspects of it were not as advertised and felt like an assembly line to extract money from tourists. The maiko and our translator (Sai) were welcoming, friendly, and patient with answering a ton of questions from us. Sai’s English was excellent. We had a lot of fun chatting and learning two games from very sweet, graceful, and charming maiko. On the other hand, the booking says “go on a tour of Tondaya, a 140 year-old traditional townhouse”. We did not get a tour. When we arrived, we found the place in the middle of a residential area (looks to me like the Tanaka family still lives and works in areas connected to the rooms where tours, tea ceremonies, etc are conducted) and very busy with a six to eight person group tea ceremony going on in a main room, plus what appeared to be two other small group tours moving through the other rooms of the complex. While waiting a short time for the translator and maiko, two different tour groups “popped into” the room we were in to look around. That was fine with us. However, at the end of our maiko time, we were promptly escorted from the one room to the exit. Pros: . Beautiful historic townhouse (we would have loved to see more of it!) with quite a few antiques . Experience with our translator (Sai) and the maiko (two dances, chatting, two party games, pictures) Cons: . There was a lot of activity going on (aforementioned tea and tour groups), plus it appeared as though some family challenges may have been occurring that day leading to a somewhat chaotic atmosphere. . Staff coordination was haphazard - we sat in a room by ourselves for awhile while logistics got straightened out on their end, and at times it seemed like people weren’t sure what to do with us . Miscommunication on the staff side led to a first interpreter coming in and introducing himself, but then switching out unexpectedly . We received no history, explanations, etc about the property, antiques we looked at while waiting . There was no tour of any of the other rooms/parts of the property . Pricey As a side note, English speakers should take the term “happy hour” completely literally. It is one hour to enjoy time with a maiko and interpreter. There are no drinks as might be implied by the colloquial interpretation of “happy hour”. The inclusions are spelled out in the description, but there could be some misunderstanding if one does not read the details carefully

I'm very happy to be able to take a lot of photos with cute Maiko. I was interested in playing tatami room with Maiko, so it was an interesting experience