Hajimemashite!

Published Jan. 4, 2010 at 12:00 p.m.
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We interrupt the last interruption of our First Night coverage because this is too good to pass up.

The St. Louis Art Museum has had a show about Japanese screens, produced with the Chicago Art Institute...We've been wanting to see it and since yesterday was closing day it was, uh, time to get over there. My wife and I entered the museum by a back door near the parking lot and walked by a little cafe run by the Wolfgang Puck outfit - and I stopped dead in my tracks.

Who and what was ordering coffee (and not ocha)? I had to have a picture but what should I say, excuse me or sumimasen? Well, the ladies are members of Kimonosan of St. Louis, which provides geisha and maiko themed entertainment. A maiko is a geisha in training. Their April group show in Kyoto is renowned. These American geishas were attending the last day of the exhibition. Gee, we could have a tea ceremony right in our home, except my Western legs can't sit crossed on the floor for more than a couple of minutes.

They bowed and said arigato after I took several photos. Well, domo arigato to them. And one moral of the story: never walk out the door without your camera.



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