Spotting A Trend

The geisha tradition has much to recommend it, and it would be nice to see it revive:

The dying art of the geisha received a surprising boost last week with figures showing that the number of apprentices has reached 100 for the first time in half a century. More than 30 modern, educated girls are entering this exacting profession every year.

There are at present only about 200 genuine geishas working in the old city of Kyoto, down from several thousand in the period before the second world war depicted in the bestselling novel Memoirs of a Geisha. They can command astronomical fees for entertaining male customers with refined performances of music and dance, playing absurd parlour games and diverting men with conversation as they serve exquisite food.