FAQ for media inquiries about Meet Geisha Online Drinking
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Here's the FAQ about Meet Geisha Online Drinking for media inquiries.
Meet Geisha is proud to share the "Old Meets New" experience as the Japan's very first Online Drinking with Geisha.
Who started the project?
Online Drinking with Geisha is a project launched by Tamaki Nishimura from Gaiax.Co.Ltd.
Tamaki and her team has been operating the show "Meet Geisha" from November 2019 at Hakone targeting the travelers. Though, due to the novel coronavirus, Meet Geisha had to suspend their operation from March till May 2020.
Japanese government's state of emergency announced to avoid the 3Cs, which not only made the Meet Geisha event stop the operation but also made the Geishas loose their opportunity of working at the banquet. The banquet is usually held in a big group by older generations which made the risks higher for them to gather under that circumstances.
To add on, a lot of Ryokan-Inn at Hakone decided to stop their operation itself which made the Geishas nearly impossible to work at the banquet. No sales at the banquet lead most of the Geishas to zero income for April and May.
During that difficult time, Tamaki had continued to talk to the board members of Hakone Geisha Union who had been working on the project together, and kept on suggesting that "There should be something we can do to let the people know more about Hakone Geisha even in this situation with no sales, let's be positive!".
There were other options, but after an effort of Tamaki, they both came to agreement on launching the "Japan's First Online Drinking with Geisha".
What can people experience?
The concept is "The First Step for you to know about Geisha". So people who haven't met a Geisha before, or those who aren't familiar with Geisha can also enjoy their time with Geisha casually.
For a 30min session in Japanese will be 1500JPY per attendee, English session will be 2000JPY per attendee. Guests can request for a session from below.
Here's how the program will go on.
Cheers! with a drink and kick off the party, followed by an introduction about Hakone, Geisha and their life, job etc.. There will be a Q&A time, an enjoyable conversation will lighten up the night. Geishas will perform a traditional dance, songs and Japanese instruments upon request.
During and after the session, people can send an online tip to the Geisha from 100JPY. If the guests liked the story she tells, or been amazed by the performance, or just want to send cheers to them, they can easily send a tip through online. Hakone Geisha will be more than happy with the support.
(There was once a case that the Geisha received 10,000JPY from a guest for a 30min session)
The reason why we started
First, is to support the Geisha's living.
While there was no income, some of the Geishas had to go for a part-time job at a supermarket or drugstores etc.. For some it has been difficult to just look for a job since there were too many people looking for a job. Or even if they got a job, they couldn't work for longer hours which they needed for living expenses.
When compared with the income they can get from the banquet job, the pay is not that good but when compared with those other part-time job, the Online Drinking can pay better and there’s some additional tips to help.
Online Drinking can create an opportunity for the Geishas to earn by performing and dancing which is their main job.
(There was some voices like "It's nice to talk to someone under this quarantine time", "I'm happy to have my time of performing to people")
Second, is to approach the new customer scopes.
The number of Geisha has been decreasing as even the Geishas will joke about themselves that "We are endangered species".
In Hakone there is more than 150 Geishas, which is the top number in Japan. But the culture of banquet is in danger of vanishing in modern Japan.
There used to be a lot of people who loved to see and enjoy the traditional performance and held a banquet party with the Geishas. Though the number of banquet has decreased to 1/5, the number of Geisha has decreased to 1/3 from 1926 till today.
The novel coronavirus has pushed this decrease of Geisha culture more and more. It made the people and the world to hesitate from having a big group gathering or a drinking party.
Maybe nothing can stop this decrease itself, but it's not late to give up and just wait for it’s extinction. The important thing is to change the point of view, target the other customer scopes with a different kind of approach. Geishas have long been a "server" at the banquet. Meet Geisha will change and design this concept of a Geisha to a "performer" who fascinates the guests.
The guests who are participating in the Online Drinking with Geisha is already the new customer scopes who never met a Geisha before. New in generations and free from where they join. The main guest at a banquet is the 50s or 60s, but at the Online Drinking, people are in their 20s, 30s or even small children with their parents are joining. People had to come physically to Hakone to meet the Geishas before, but now people can join online from all over Japan and the world.
Meet the Geishas online will be the first step. People will be encouraged to come to Japan one day and meet the Hakone Geisha "offline".
(Meet Geisha show at Hakone resumed operation from July 2020)
The reaction after the launch
Online Drinking with Geisha started at May 22nd 2020 in Japanese. We've got 2 to 3 media interview on the day of press release. The seats open for May were fully booked after few days after the release.
We only did the press release in Japanese, but an English media had translated it into English and we were receiving a lot of inquiries from oversea. So we rushed to get ready for international bookings, set up our official website in English. Soon the seats opened until mid June were booked.
The guests who joined
The guest's age range at the off line banquet mainly consists of 50s and 60s gentlemen, though the Online Drinking had 20s to 40s ladies by themselves or families joining with their children around 5years old. Most of them were new to Geisha.
Usually at the banquet, people joins in a group of those who knows each other from their company or community. On the other hand, the Online Drinking are consist with strangers which in the end will come to know each other assisted by the Geisha's friendly facilitation.
From overseas, there was a family joining from different countries. It was a birthday present for a brother. It is nice to be chosen as a place of family gathering, enjoying the Japanese culture experience. We are continuously receiving a request through our official SNS of having a big group online session with Geisha. In Japan, many people will join by themself or with a friend, but the oversea guests tend to prefer a group session.
We can arrange a private reservations as well so feel free to send us an inquiry for a special occasion.
Good and Bad
The good point about Online Drinking is the easiness of joining. Before we started, only people who lives near Hakone were the customer of Hakone Geisha, but now the market is widen all over the world. Free from where they join.
What’s more, the number of people who enjoys the off line banquet is limited in both price range reason and opportunity wise. It’s not reasonable to hold a party with Geisha and there is lesser opportunity to have a banquet these days.
Online Drinking can create the opportunity with Geisha easily since it made the people free from were they join, when to join and who to join with.
There’s no bad thing for the attendee side, but for the presenter side, there were some difficulties during the preparation of the project. Since we had to teach the Geishas about how the online tool works, what Zoom is and how to use it.
While its not a bad point, it’s always nice to experience such an art in person better than through the screen. Especially the moves the traditional dances creates are something that we highly recommend to the attendees to see it in front of them.
Our official website is open for the information of the event held at Hakone Yumoto for anyone who’s interested in the Geisha world.
Media kit
Please feel free to contact us at support@meetgeisha.jp for further inquires.
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