history project

[MrsAmberface]

well hello,
i'm new i currently have an american history project due. Well i could care less about american history to be honest so i wanted to do geisha.There's my problem i was wondering if anyone could help me out with this i need to find information on what happened to the geisha as WW2 came to japan. Anyone?:?

[suirai]

I'm sorry to say, but if you "could care less" about "American" history, you aren't going to do all that well in studying any kind of history, be it country, people, or event. History is history, in and of itself, no matter what the "study of" is. I hope you get that before you get too much older, or you are one of those that is doomed to "repeat history", probably your own.

I suppose this is lecturing, but some of us "old folks" know of what we speak.

Check out the "Quantum Physics" thread.



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[MrsAmberface]

haha i didn't mean it like that i really like history i'm just very disappointed about the project having to be only about american history haha

[suirai]

I'm happy to hear that, and apologize for being less than diplomatic with my response. I think I've been hanging around Klarg too much.

Now about a study of the life and style of the geisha. That's going to be tough, as there is so much misinformation out there. Be careful. If you can sift through the nonsense you can do a good report.

I'll see what may be of help and get back to you within a day or two. I assume you haven't waited until the last minute to get this report done, right?

[sabro]

You could look into the American occupation of Japan from 1945-1956... and what happened to cultural elements like Geisha during the occupation-- how it was portrayed in American popular culture...(there was one movie with Jack Lemon...and another with Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller but I can't think of the title.) How does that sound?

[Mike Cash]

haha i didn't mean it like that i really like history i'm just very disappointed about the project having to be only about american history haha

Is this project for your junior high class?

[MrsAmberface]

okay to answer everyones questions
Mike, i'm sadly a sophmore (supposed to be a junior) i'm in high school
sabro-thank you very much i'll look into that
suirai-thank you very much for the help and no sir i'm not waiting i have a month i'd juss really am into it haha it doesn't have to be on american history any longer i found that out today so i'm excited:flower: thank you all for the help!:wave:

[Mitsuo]

Well I would suggest that the best source would be your local Library. My sister is in the fashion design program at Parsons school of design. She wanted to do something with our heritage, so she chose japanese fabric and so on. She went to the library and got a bunch of books that talk about geishas', who they were and etc. Im sure you will get great info just from there. Also, the internet is also a great source of course. It ties in with sabros suggestion.

Good Luck!

[suirai]

I've been going through my library here this morning and I find I've very little on the subject and can't seem to offer any special insights, so I'm left with echoing the thoughts previously posted that a trip, or trips, to the library and a careful search of the Net are what's needed.

You may see if there are any museum exhibitions on the Geisha lifestyle currently running. I seem to recall seeing some ads over the past years from time to time on this particular aspect of Japanese history.

But a key is not to mix the Geisha way with the courtesan's way. That has happened too often in the past and is a constant in the average person's perception of the Geisha. I'd start my essay right off the bat with that misconception being addressed.

[MrsAmberface]

arigato! that's a lot of help to me i planned on doing misconception cause this is all going on a trifold poster board so i have a lot of room

[Kinsao]

That's quite a good idea because it would enable you to compare and contrast the rubbish ('misconceptions') with the 'proper' info (for want of a better name for it! ><).

Because you will have to sift through the info to find what is 'genuine', what is 'stereotype' etc. etc., you might as well make use of what you discover along the way. :relief:

[Mitsuo]

I am thinking that you could also go to your local retirement home and see if you could do any interviews with the folk there. They might know a few things. I did that once and got really good information. So try to interview Japanese americans, or anyone who was in the era of WWII.

Good luck