Australian woman becomes first foreign geisha

An Australian woman has become the first foreigner to be employed as a geisha in Japan. The Age reports that Fiona Graham made her debut in Asakusa, Tokyo, on December 19, after several months of intensive training in traditional Japanese music and dancing, conversation and ettiquette.

Foreign women have previously participated in the geisha community - most notably anthropologist Liza Crihfield Dalby, who undertook geisha duties in Kyoto in 1975 as part of her studies in Japanese culture. However Ms Graham is the first foreign woman to be officially accepted into the geisha association and recognised as a practising geisha.