Valentine's Day 2016: Fill your abode with positivity on the day of love!

On this day of love, infuse in your homes a fresh and positive punch.

Lift up the mood and smile!

Check out few tips to lift up the feel of your home:

• Light aroma candles, it not only brings positivity but also relaxes your mind.
• Place fresh flowers wherever you can. Flowers are a a sign of bloom and happiness.
• Use a nice room freshener. Lemon grass is often opted for relaxing your senses.
• Light camphor in corners, it is believed that camphor releases negativity from the house.
• Play soft symphonies, music always does wonders in lifting up the mood.
• Cook light and sumptuous snacks to enjoy the day of love.

Here's wishing one and all a very Happy Valentine's Day-- the day of love!

Compound in broccoli slows cancer cell growth

While sulforaphane has long shown evidence of value in cancer prevention, researchers at Oregon State University (OSU) and the Oregon Health and Science University suggested in a new study that it may play a role in slowing cancer growth as well, Xinhua reported.

The findings were the result of the first clinical studies to look at the effect of sulforaphane on breast tissues of women diagnosed with breast cancer.

Emily Ho, a professor at the OSU College of Public Health and Human Sciences, said: "Our original goal was to determine if sulforaphane supplements would be well tolerated and might alter some of the epigenetic mechanisms involved in cancer."

In a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial, 54 women with abnormal mammograms were given either a placebo or supplements that provided sulforaphane. The amount of sulforaphane they received would equate to about one cup of broccoli sprouts per day, if eaten as a food.

"We were surprised to see a decrease in markers of cell growth, which means these compounds may help slow cancer cell growth," said Ho. 

"This is very encouraging. Dietary approaches have traditionally been thought to be limited to cancer prevention, but this demonstrated it could help slow the growth of existing tumours. "

Previous studies have found that women with a high intake of cruciferous vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage or kale, have a decreased risk of breast cancer. In particular, sulforaphane appears to inhibit histone deacetylases, or HDACs, which in turn enhances the expression of tumour suppressor genes that are often silenced in cancer cells.

In the new study published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, the intake of sulforaphane did reduce HDAC activity, as well as cancer cell growth.

As co-author of the study, Ho said it is possible that sulforaphane may be added to traditional approaches to cancer therapy, whether to prevent cancer, slow its progression, treat it or stop its recurrence.

Researchers said additional studies are needed to evaluate dose responses, work with larger populations, and examine the responses of other relevant molecular targets to either foods or supplements containing sulforaphane.

Recipe: How to make delicious 'Tiny Treats' at home—Watch here!

Whether it is Birthday party or simple house party- children always feel left out when it comes to food, as most of the food items are dedicated to adults.

With these simple steps you could learn how to make delicious, mouth-smacking cupcakes!

Watch Video

60% rise in cosmetic surgeries ahead of Valentine's Day

They said the surge is mostly due to the youth's propensity for easy ways out to look better and also the availability of cosmetic surgeries at a reasonable price.

"The sudden increase of cosmetic surgeries by the youth especially during the Valentine Day's month is a surprise .Women in their early twenties are looking for breast implants (with permission from their parents).

"Having a good cleavage is the most common aesthetic end point today for the young women," said Mohan Thomas, senior cosmetic surgeon at Cosmetic Surgery Institute and Breach Candy Hospital.

According to the doctors, the need for cosmetic results have arisen because of the fast results sought by the young, who otherwise are reluctant to adopt health lifestyle that can fulfil their wish naturally.

"There are requests for breast augmentation, liposuction and sometimes both. We need to cater to these requests. The trend currently is photo rejuvenation, where in just one sitting of 15-20 minutes you can find yourself glowing like never before," said Vinod Vij, cosmetic surgeon at Clinique Asthetica and Fortis hospital.

Currently, the cosmetic surgeries relating to skin and several other minor procedures cost around Rs.8,000-9,000 only.

" The demand for cosmetic surgeries increases around the Valentine's Day, especially due to discounts of up to 15-20 percent on offer. The trend is seen not just in women, but men too are equally feeling the need to look better," said Aamod Rao, another cosmetic surgeon.

According to Rao, six-pack abs among men and Botox injections among women are commonly requested procedures.

"Women go for injectable treatments because of lack of time. Injectables like Botox and Juvederm have become popular among women. These fillers are just injected into the area that needs uplift or treat wrinkles, which show better and fast results," said Rao, who is working with Get Enhanced Clinic.

Valentine’s Day: Enhance your beauty sans pain – Here’s how

Venus Concept, a pioneer in the medical aesthetics industry that tied up with two Venus Clinics in New Delhi on the 1st February with an aim to promote comfortable treatments to the Indian market, claims that with its revolutionary technologies, it can deliver "painless beauty" in no time.

Dr. Joy Shah, Partner and Strategic Consultant - Venus Aesthetic LLP, told ANI, "Venus Treatments are non-surgical solutions for most of the beauty flaws and are absolutely painless, safe and effective. We call it a painless beauty. Patients like it because in each session, they see a visible improvement."

Shah added, "Treatments are carried out with modern Energy Based Technologies which are cleared by most of the global authorities like U.S. FDA, Health Canada and European CE. Treatments are performed as a series of 6 to 8 weekly sessions to repair the skin damage, 3 to 4 annual sessions for prevention from damage and maintenance."

He further said, "Venus Treatments work by biological stimulation of natural healing process and neovascularization, which make the treatments very safe. So, there are no risk factors associated with the Carcinomas, cancers or eye damages through lasers. Venus Treatments are affordable to everyone."

In India, Venus Concept operates with a complete product line namely, Venus Legacy, Venus Freeze, Venus Viva and Venus Versa. It helps in facilitating Venus Clinics to treat Hair Reduction, Skin Rejuvenation, Fine Lines Revision, Acne Scar Revision, Stretch Marks Revision, Wrinkles Reduction, Melasma Reduction, Anti-Ageing, Face Aesthetics, Brow Toning, Skin Tightening, Body Sculpting, Fat Reduction, Non Invasive Face Lifts and Skin Texture Correction are some of the most preferred indications treated through Venus Treatments.

According to Dr. Shah, "the biggest benefit for the youth is that they will have a safe treatment and will not have to suffer with pimple scars and compromise with their pigmentation or other skin flaws. Now, there are non invasive and safe solutions in a very short time, with a surer result."

Dr. Shah assured that if you take only one session and don't go for the second one, whatever activation has been done will continue, but it may not be optimized. And so, he suggests that one should go for one Venus treatment every 3 months to keep the expensive surgical and beauty procedures away.

Ishleen Kaur, from the blog Beauty and Beyond, who tried the free Venus teaser said, "Initially I was a bit apprehensive of going for the treatment, which they were providing, because I have a lot of acnes on my face. But after they assured me that it won't react with the skin, I just decided to take the leap. I got the jaw lift. They clicked a before and after shot. I could see a bit of a difference, not too much. The feeling was very warm and was indeed pain-free. It was a pretty good feeling and I would definitely recommend it to people with ageing skin."

Neurologist Dr. Rajendra Yadav, who also tried out the treatment, said: "I underwent a session of this under-eye treatment. It was nice. This is a radiofrequency technique with magnetic involvement in it and I think the treatment makes you comfortable and sleepy. I, myself, am impressed with this treatment and will recommend this treatment to those who are interested in getting their colour change and have a little tension in the skin."

`Wedding night sex` is waning, says new survey

YouGov survey of the 711 married UK adults showed that nearly half of those surveyed stated fatigue as the main reason and one in five under-40s cited drunkenness as the reason for not making love on the big night, the Independent reported.

Although, more than three-quarters of over 60s did have sex on their wedding night, the reasons for those who didn't remain the same, with exhaustion topping the list of reasons at 37 per cent, followed by drinking too much at 23 per cent.

Worryingly, eight per cent of 18-to-39-year-olds didn't actually remember whether they had sex or not, although whether this is down to tiredness, alcoholism or both is unknown. 

New molecule to track cancer drug in the body

The researchers at The Ohio State University in US created a luminescent molecule, called a peptide and made up of two amino acids. Then they hitched that light to the cancer medication so that it showed the chemo's arrival within cells.

"This is very important for personalised medicine. We really want to see what's going on when we give chemo drugs and this work paves the way for the exciting endeavour," said Mingjun Zhang, a biomedical engineering professor who led the study.

Biomedical engineers strive to find techniques that behave naturally within the body and leave without doing harm.

This research holds promise for doing just that because the peptide is one that should easily coexist with human cells and leave as harmlessly as it entered.

"You can combine your drug with this luminescent vehicle. Composed of natural amino acids, the nanoparticle is inherently biocompatible," said Zhang.

In the body or tissue of an animal or person, scientists would watch the fluorescent signal with an optical detection system, he said.

Researchers sandwiched their peptide to a common chemotherapy drug so that its light was hidden until the two elements peeled apart upon entering the cells.

Zhang was particularly delighted to see that the blue peptide, which can be seen under ultraviolet light, maintained its luminescence for extended periods of time.

Previous work to track drugs using organic dyes has been hampered by their tendency to fade with time.

"You can label it and you can attach it to a drug and see where the drug goes and when it is released," Zhang said.

It could give patients and their doctors information on how well and how quickly a medication is working for them.

"Maybe for some people a drug is taking effect in a few minutes and for somebody else it's hours and for somebody else it never takes effect," Zhang said.

The research team used doxorubicin, a widely used chemotherapy drug, for their lab work, but the discovery could apply to different types of treatments, they said.

A study was published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Facebook network and stress levels may be tied together

A small study suggests that for adolescents, their number of Facebook friends may be related to their stress levels, with more than 300 friends associated with higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

The study only included 88 participants at one point in time, so it can’t indicate whether changes in Facebook metrics cause an increase in stress, or vice versa. Other important external factors are also responsible for cortisol levels, but Facebook involvement may have its own effect, senior author Sonia Lupien of Montreal Mental Health University Institute said in a statement.

"We were able to show that beyond 300 Facebook friends, adolescents showed higher cortisol levels; we can therefore imagine that those who have 1,000 or 2,000 friends on Facebook may be subjected to even greater stress,” she said. The 88 teens in the study, age 12 to 17, answered questions about their Facebook use frequency, number of friends, self-promoting behavior and supporting behavior of friends. The researchers measured the teens’ cortisol levels four times a day for three days.

Kids who had more than 300 Facebook friends tended to have higher cortisol levels than those with fewer friends, the researchers reported in Psychoneuroendocrinology. With more peer interaction on Facebook, however, cortisol levels tended to be lower. Neither depression nor self-esteem were related to cortisol levels.

Cortisol levels in early adolescence may influence risk of depression years later, the authors wrote. Wenhong Chen of the department of Radio-TV-Film and the department of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, who was not part of the new study, points out that the research is about Facebook, and so the findings can’t necessarily be generalized to other forms of social media use.

It may also not be generalizable to other age groups, Chen said. “The preliminary nature of our findings will require refined measurement of Facebook behaviors in relation to physiological functioning and we will need to undertake future studies to determine whether these effects exist in younger children and adults,” Lupien said. “Developmental analysis could also reveal whether virtual stress is indeed ‘getting over the screen and under the skin’ to modulate neurobiological processes related to adaptation.”

Offline friend network size was also related to cortisol levels. “It may not be about the number of friends either online or offline, it may be more about potential communication overload,” Chen told Reuters Health by email. Larger networks may mean more peers and more drama, she said.

Rather than using the overall number of friends online or offline it may be more revealing to examine network composition, strong ties and weak ties, as well as individuals’ position in their networks, she said.

Exercise as young adult related to heart health decades later

Young adults who exercise may have a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and higher survival odds decades later than their peers who aren’t as active early in life, a U.S. study suggests. Fitness has long been linked to a reduced risk of heart disease in older adults. The new study, however, offers fresh evidence that workout routines started years before cardiovascular problems are generally encountered may help keep them from developing in the first place.

“Each additional minute a person could exercise on a treadmill in early adulthood was associated with substantially lower likelihood of risk of dying or developing cardiovascular diseases over 25 years later,” lead study author Dr. Ravi Shah of Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston said by email.

The study included about 4,900 adults aged 18 to 30 who performed treadmill tests in 1985 and 1986, with roughly half of them repeating the exercise assessments again seven years later. The tests consisted of as many as nine two-minute stages of gradually increasing difficulty. Over the next several decades, the researchers monitored participants for obesity, hardening in the coronary arteries, heart muscle weakness, and incidents related to cardiovascular disease such as heart attacks or strokes. Half the subjects were followed for at least 27 years.

Overall, 273 people died, though just 73 of these fatalities were related to cardiovascular disease, the researchers report in JAMA Internal Medicine. In addition, 193 people survived events such as heart attacks or strokes.

Each extra minute participants lasted during the treadmill test as young adults was linked to a 12 percent lower risk of cardiovascular disease and 15 percent lower odds of death by the end of the study period. Every one-minute increase in treadmill time was also linked to less strain on the heart muscle, but exercise test duration wasn’t tied to changes in hardening of the coronary arteries.

Among the subset of participants who did the second treadmill test seven years after the initial assessment, each one minute reduction in exercise tolerance was linked with a 20 percent increase in cardiovascular events and 21 percent greater odds of death. The increased risks persisted after the researchers accounted for individuals’ age, race, gender, obesity, and other cardiovascular disease risk factors such as smoking, diabetes, elevated blood pressure and high cholesterol.

The fact that even obesity didn’t change the outcome highlights the need to think about exercise as more than merely a tool for weight management, noted study co-author Dr. Venkatesh Murthy of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

“Being fit and maintaining fitness over time are very important to your heart and overall health for everyone – especially starting in early adulthood – and not only for people who are trying to lose or to maintain weight,” Murthy said by email.

It’s possible that some of the association between fitness and heart health may be explained by improved diet, the authors concede. A different measure of cardiorespiratory fitness, known as a peak aerobic capacity test, might also get different results than the treadmill assessments.

Even so, the findings offer a substantive confirmation of the importance of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, Dr. David Chiriboga and Dr. Ira Ockene of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester wrote in an accompanying editorial. Beyond fitness and exercise, patients should also understand the importance of limiting sedentary time, Ockene said by email. Many daily habits that contribute to inactivity – whether it’s channel surfing, using drive-through windows at the bank or the fast food restaurant, or emailing co-workers instead of walking down the hall to talk – all contribute to decreased fitness and increased weight.

“I spend a lot of time talking to folks not just about literal exercise but also about the extraordinary value of day-to-day activity,” Ockene said.

E-coupons, gift apps in vogue this Diwali

New Delhi: As Diwali approaches, gifting has got an e-overhaul, with online coupons and mobile apps for choosing gifts of one's own choice becoming popular in place of stereotype gifts like sweets and dry fruit boxes. The digital gifting solutions are not only confined to startups or new-age companies, but big conglomerates are also preferring this mode for their corporate gifts.

 

These apps and coupons can be accessed and utilised on any digital platform, such as computers or mobiles, and are becoming popular across all kinds of organisations -- startups or the established players -- this festival season. Payment solutions provider Pine Labs, e-gifting platform QwikCilver, online gifting platform Giftxoxo and office supply e-commerce portal Zoffio, believe that this trend is here to stay and many corporates are likely to adopt this mode in the coming years.

 

"The instant gift delivery without any logistics cost coupled with the delight of receiving 'Gift of Choice' is what gives an edge to PineGift over traditional gifts. Corporates get easy, simple, one step medium to cater to the diverse expectations of the entire spectrum of recipients," Pine Labs CEO Lokvir Kapoor said. Kapoor noted that "digital gifting solutions are not confined to startups or new-age companies, rather big conglomerates like Samsung, Max Bupa, Master Card, British Airways, Airtel, Universal Sompo etc are realising the value that PineGift digital gift platform imparts".

 

In case of Pine Labs, the gift recipients using the digital medium of the web or a mobile app, get to choose their gift vouchers from 100 plus leading brands like Big Bazaar, Croma, Cinepolis, Kaya, Planet M, Spice Hotspot, Godrej Natures Basket, Mainland China, Pizza Hut etc and online stores like Flipkart, Amazon, Jabong, Makemytrip, Myntra etc. "Digital Gift cards are the fastest growing mode of Gifting with Qwikcilver. The e-gift cards bring together freedom of choice and convenience in gifting and offer the recipient the freedom to choose what he wants.

 

"The e-gift cards can be customised with personalised images and greeting messages and can be given to the employees and clients," Qwikcilver Founder & CEO Kumar Sudarshan said. By digital gifting, the entire logistics overhead is taken away, infinite personalisation is possible and there is a significant saving in the operational costs, he added.

Global warming can ruin our sex live

London: You should start taking global warming seriously as it's probably impacting your life in more ways than you can imagine.

The research suggests that as the temperatures increase, people may feel less inclined to have sex or, as the report from the National Bureau of Economic Research more delicately puts it, their "coital frequency" could diminish, the Independent reported.

The research reveals that nine months after a particularly hot day, the birth rate tails off significantly, coming in 0.7 per cent lower than it would after a cooler day. This indicates that rising temperatures either reduce fertility, decrease appetite for intercourse or, quite possibly, both.

Extreme heat leads to a sizeable fall in births, the researchers said, adding that temperature extremes could affect coital frequency. It could affect hormone levels and sex drives. Alternatively, high temperatures may adversely affect reproductive health or semen quality on the male side, or ovulation on the female side.

Tulane University's report author Alan Barreca said that the decline in birth rates is a very serious issue for countries, like the United States and the UK, which have below-replacement birth rates. "This will put a lot of strain on social insurance programmes, like social security, because it will create large imbalances in the make-up of the population."

India's youth increasingly favour western brands over ethnic wear

Rifling through sweaters in India's first Gap store in a glitzy New Delhi mall, 21-year-old Ridhi Goel says her grandmother doesn't mind how she dresses, as long as it's not too revealing. "She's fine with me wearing Western clothes like a shirt but not jeans and a crop top," said the journalism student, her grey leggings contrasting sharply with her mother's colourful kurta.

 

"All my family wears Indian clothes, but I find them too uncomfortable. I think maybe there is a generational divide." Most women in India still wear traditional dress such as saris or shalwar kameez -- but the picture is changing, and on city streets, dazzling silks mingle with logoed T-shirts and jeans. 

 

Young people's appetite for Western clothes has led a fresh flurry of foreign brands to open up in India in the past few months, including US chain Gap and Sweden's H&M. Others are expanding fast, including popular Spanish retailer Zara and British high-street staple Marks & Spencer, which in October opened its 50th shop in India, its biggest market outside the UK.

 

Urbanisation, a growing middle class, rising disposable incomes and one of the youngest populations in the world make India hard to ignore. "The time has come for Western wear to have exponential growth," J. Suresh, the managing director of textile group Arvind Lifestyle Brands, Gap's partner in India, told AFP. "If you look at any girl born after 1990 she will be wearing Western wear. That is the generation coming into college, their first job," he said. "They will be completely in Western wear." 

 

White-collar women

 

While globally women are the biggest shoppers, in India men's clothing dominates, with 42 percent of the $38 billion market in 2014, according to consultancy Technopak. Shoppers are also younger -- the average customer targeted by Gap in its US stores is 35, but their Indian counterpart is five to 10 years their junior, Suresh said.

 

Gap had a head start in India thanks to Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan, whose ubiquitous orange hoodie in 1990s hit "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" (Something Happens) handed the brand a ready-made following. But it is young Indian women, increasingly affluent and joining the workforce in expanding numbers, who are driving change, with data showing sales of womenswear growing faster than men's.

 

And while Western clothes currently make up only about a quarter of Indian womenswear, their sales are outpacing traditional dress. A Marks & Spencer spokesperson cited its Indigo denim range and lingerie as two of its best-performing lines in India, with more than 300,000 bras sold in 2014-15. "As an increasing number of women move into white collar and blue-collar roles, they are also adopting Western attire," Devangshu Dutta, chief executive of Third Eyesight, a retail consultancy in Delhi, told AFP.

 

More negatively, media stereotypes of overseas fashion as a proxy for "a modern thought process" and conversely, Indian clothing as "backward or repressive, certainly are an important influencer", he said. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi is famous for wearing a short-sleeved kurta, he is in the minority among India's men. They already dress predominantly in Western clothes, as do children, whose parents see it as a practical choice for school uniforms.

  

'Different mindset'

 

For foreign brands, fast-growing India is a welcome change from sluggish markets like Britain, and a loosening of foreign direct investment laws has made it easier to open shops. Yet the retail landscape in India -- geographically about as large and diverse as the European Union -- is hard to navigate, leading some entrants, including British department store Debenhams, to pull out. 

 

"Tackling the Indian market successfully requires a different mind-set," Dutta said. Foreign newcomers also face competition from Indian-owned, Western-style brands such as Allen Solly or Louis Philippe, which are more familiar with the nuances of the market. The successful ones adapt their ranges -- Marks & Spencer "stretches" its seasons to cater for the long Indian summer and offers polo shirts in four times as many colours as in Britain.

 

Others aggressively cut prices. In a country where the average monthly wage is $215, according to 2012 figures from the International Labour Organization, brands that are mid-market in Europe or the United States become much higher end in India. Dressed in a pink polo shirt and jeans in the capital's new H&M store, airline officer Sunil Bassi, 49, says he is "not fussy" about his clothes and came to shop for his wife. "Obviously Western fashion is very popular. How many people in here do you see wearing Indian clothes?" he said.

Japan's dainty geishas indulge in fast food despite societal pressure

Kyoto, Japan: A craving for fast food presents few obstacles to most people, but for Japan's dainty, doll-like geishas, it calls for a daring undercover operation -- and a cunning disguise. While strictly taboo for a geisha to be seen munching French fries, some "geiko" -- as they are known in the ancient city of Kyoto -- and their young "maiko" apprentices have hatched a clever plan to avoid detection.

 

"It's necessary to be very careful about the image we project," celebrated geiko Kikumaru told AFP in an interview, kneeling on the floor of a wooden teahouse in the fabled entertainment district of Gion. "A maiko is basically banned from going into fast-food restaurants, or trendy stores selling short skirts. But sometimes they just crave fried potatoes," she smiled.

 

"When they do, we have to put on a pair of jeans and go and buy them some, and let them eat at home in secret. "In the cloistered world of Kyoto's five geisha quarters, known as "hana-machi" (flower towns), seemingly little has changed since their rise in the 17th century. "It is a geiko's duty to protect Japanese customs and culture which are dying out, and to continue those traditions," explains Kikumaru in the soft regional dialect.

 

"When we go outside, we must always be careful about how we walk, our posture, our behaviour. No, we're not allowed to be on Facebook or things like that." Adorned in crisp kimonos, their faces powdered white, geishas float elegantly along Gion's cobbled streets between engagements at the district's quaint, but cliquish, teahouses.

 

Skilled in Japanese arts such as dance, the lute and three-stringed shamisen, the job of a geiko -- performing girl -- is to entertain exclusive guests, normally over dinner or at banquets. Their clients are often high-profile politicians or businessmen, who do not even know how much a night costs until they receive an eye-watering monthly bill.

 

Geisha yoga

 

"People think it's glamorous but it is a test of strength," Kikumaru said with a giggle. "It's hard work but geishas are made of hard stuff, very determined and strong women. Some go to the gym. I do yoga, or did. You really don't get enough free time. "Kyoto's geikos begin as maids after completing Japan's compulsory education at the age of 15, soon becoming maiko -- dancing girls.

 

They spend the next five years training in performing arts, gracious social etiquette and conversation skills. Usually at around 20, they assume the title of geiko. However, the strict convention governing the life of the some 175 geikos currently working in Kyoto sits in stark contrast to the freedom and mod cons enjoyed by the upwardly mobile women of modern Japan.

 

It is a divide Kikumaru, now 31, is acutely aware of. "You are constantly aware you're living a life which is not a normal one," she nodded. "You're coloured by this lifestyle as a geiko and you do feel a disconnect with the general public." "If a maiko on her way to a banquet in her kimono sees schoolgirls of the same age in their uniforms, she will imagine them going off to eat dinner together while she's sitting on a tatami floor. She doesn't have any private time and shares a room with three or four other girls.

 

"You sacrifice your teenage years training to become a geisha and sometimes you can feel you want to give up. But you have to conquer those feelings." Perceptions of geishas are often far from reality. Many among Kikumaru's profession were horrified by the novel -- and 2005 Hollywood hit movie -- "Memoirs of a Geisha" whose subject, the former geisha Mineko Iwasaki, sued the book's writer Arthur Golden for allegedly likening Kyoto's famed hostesses to prostitutes.

 

Gilded world

 

"There are even Japanese people today who don't fully understand a geisha's craft," added Kikumaru, referring to the mystique surrounding her gilded world.  "Movies exaggerate, of course. What specifically is it that's different between that movie and a real-life geisha. Well, basically everything!" she laughed. 

 

"There are women who perform very different jobs to a geiko but somehow we were all painted the same colour. "While some past geishas in other parts of Kyoto and Japan offered sex, those in Gion complain that foreigners often mistake them for prostitutes because of their showy outfits. "There is no physical intimacy," insisted Kikumaru. "A geiko is a confidante."

 

But if gender equality appears alien to this fantasy time warp, think again. "Geishas in Kyoto were once daughters of samurai warriors," said Kikumaru.  "When the feudal system collapsed, these girls from military stock naturally possessed the social graces and became entertainers to support their families. They were the rock of the family."

 

Walking with tiny steps, a geisha nonetheless follows three steps behind a man. "It's quite natural," said Kikumaru with a playful frown. "In Japan, gentlemen don't walk ahead because they believe they rule the roost. It used to be dangerous to walk outside as people carried swords (so) men walked in front to protect the women from getting slashed -- it's very chivalrous!"