The main reason for this is that a foreigner writing about a topic like geishas seems kitschy to Japanese readers.
Bookstore managers say the book is just not that popular. In fact, it's fairly rare to find someone who has read the 650-page novel (published in two volumes) from beginning to end.
Memoires of a geisha movie#
"Sayuri" - as the novel is called in Japan - is in all the posh bookshops in central Tokyo, from Aoyama Book Center to Shibuya's Book 1st, where browsers can find it wedged between the likes of Banana Yoshimoto's latest novel and other recent translations, such as Melissa Bank's "The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing." In proper Japanese style, the book has been elegantly packaged with a traditional textile pattern cover (making it look serious and not sleazy) and an extra half-sleeve informing readers that it has been a bestseller in the United States and will be made into a movie by Steven Spielberg.Īlthough Bungei Shunju, the book's publisher, says it's satisfied with the book's performance so far - sales have reportedly hit 50,000 since it was released in November - "Sayuri" hasn't launched a "geisha boom" in Japan. Now, more than two years after "Memoirs of a Geisha" was first published in the United States, the book is getting a big shrug from Japanese readers and a decisive thumbs down from the woman Golden credits with teaching him the most intimate aspects of geisha life.
Through her journey from fisherman's daughter born near the Sea of Japan to her ascent into the upper echelons of Kyoto geishahood, Arthur Golden's Sayuri has charmed Western hearts, and his novel has leapt onto American bestseller lists.
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