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90-year-old Geisha Yuko Asakusa has sat in front of her mirror putting on makeup and
adjusting her kimono for 75 years.
The Asakusa Geisha Association said Yuko is the city's oldest geisha, who still maintains
a busy schedule with up to 20 reservations a month.
Yuko has been working as a geisha in the Asakusa district of Tokyo since she was 16, and says
she is proud of her age and doesn't hide it.
When she was 13, Yuko asked to become a geisha after she was influenced by geisha films she
watched with her mother.
She debuted as a fully-fledged geisha three years later.
While she no longer dances due to her age, Yuko says she'll be singing and playing the
Japanese three-stringed instrument called the shamisen, until her last breath.
Today, there are few geishas left in the profession, in which female entertainers sing, dance and
engage in witty conversation at dinner parties for exorbitant prices.
The number of geishas, which means performer in Japanese, peaked at 80,000 in 1928, but
now only about 1,000 remain.