This event takes place in part of a studio on the second floor of a building. There are stairs outside in front of the building that go up to the studio. We arrived early, as recommended in the program description, but e... morended up waiting for the previous program to finish before we could enter. Before entering the studio, you need to take your shoes off and leave them on a rack.
Once inside, there are some rows of benches facing towards a low "stage" on one side of the room. After everyone has taken their seats, the maiko enters. The English translator for the maiko was very good. The maiko introduces herself, and there is an opportunity to have your photograph taken with her and receive a slip of paper with her name stamped on it (in Japanese, of course). After everyone has their photograph, the maiko performs two dances. Then there is a question-and-answer session, and then the maiko explains the rules for a drinking game. She and the translator demonstrated the game once, and then the maiko will ask a series of volunteers to come up to the front to challenge her. If you lose, don't worry--you can choose to drink a cup of water instead of sake!
All of this takes place just over a half hour, but it didn't feel particularly rushed. The maiko was very courteous with answering questions and it was fun to play the game against her. I felt like many of the people in our audience were too shy to ask questions or volunteer, but I would encourage people to not be too shy and enjoy themselves!
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