Kyoto, Japan: Wearing Kimono in the Geisha District of Gion

“CULTURAL APPROPRIATION”? IN JAPAN IT’S CALLED “CULTURAL APPRECIATION”...

Warning: If you’re easily triggered you might want to skip this introduction and head straight for the pretty pictures. But then again if you’re the oversensitive sort you really shouldn’t be reading a site called “Posh, Broke, & Bored”...

Now, I may not be an expert on identity politics nor the subtle nuances that separate “dressing up” vs. what some call “cultural appropriation” (but then again, when the thought police constantly shift the goalposts of what they deem acceptable, how does one expect to play the game? Well, that’s their whole point, but that’s another charged discussion for another day) but as a Far East transplant in the West I can tell you that us “Orientals” don’t waste time being offended when foreigners take an interest - however passing or superficial - in our culture. Why get mad when you can get mad money?
Case in point: all across Japan, especially in the cities of Tokyo and Kyoto, locals have made the most of the tourism boom by opening kimono rental shops so that visitors can feel the fantasy when in Japan while receiving an education on the culture. Wearing kimono and yukata, even outside of Japan, is considered by the Japanese as appreciative and respectful of their culture when done properly and with reverence to the history and customs of the country. Keep your mind open, your intentions pure, your curiousity sincere, and your execution tasteful; and you not only open a dialogue with and engage with other cultures but also look bangin’ while doing it. This is my experience with wearing traditional Japanese kimono in the geisha district of Gion, Kyoto.