On the eve of our departure, we happened to stumble into a tea ceremony outside Kyoto Station. Lo and behold, there were two genuine maikos--one making the tea and another serving it on behalf of a tea company. The tea that is served is called macha, which is a green powder that is whipped, with hot water, into a froth. It was just my luck that I could have half an hour of uninterrupted shooting. At the end of the ceremony, the two maikos posed for photographs with the customers. During the ceremony the maikos were very serious. Afterwards, they broke into smiles and grins and you could sense that they were still teenagers at heart.

I didn't have the choicest spot. Nevertheless, I was able to take a few good ones.