Congratulations to Damien Eastman, this month’s winner. Damien receives a coveted Kansai Scene t-shirt!

Email your best snaps taken around Kansai to: photo@kansaiscene.com

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Damien Eastman

I call this one “Neo Maiko”. It was taken on January 3rd at Yasaka Shrine, Gion for Hatsumode (New Year’s shrine visit). I talked with the girl for a while and she described herself as a “genzai-kei maiko” – literally a modern-day maiko. Her hair, she told me, represents Mt Fuji as it was included as a World Heritage site last year. The piercing in her right ear is to celebrate Japan in general, but the energy bulb in her left is to protest nuclear power/ Fukushima.
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