Geisha paparazzi: Kyoto's biggest headache

Tensions over tourists taking photographs of iconic Japanese women have reached 'boiling point'

A geisha
Geishas, which literally means 'art person', entertain visitors to restaurants and bars in Japan
(Image credit: Koichi Kamoshida / Getty Images)

With a history dating back to the 1700s, geishas are one of Japan's most enduring cultural images.

But this has increasingly made them a tourist attraction, and the "throngs" of visitors who are try to snap photos of them in "picturesque streets" have been compared to the paparazzi for their aggressive tactics, said CNN.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.