Kiyo in Kyoto: From the Maiko House - Vol. 9 Ch. 96 - A Yell Delivered Together
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Only one, huh?
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Back in the day, during the dark times of KM, I was almost lynched by rabid fans for suggesting there's something strange about Kiyo's situation. The more specific reason was the chapter where she received pocket money from the Mother for her own use. I questioned the need for it since cooking for the maiko is her job. You know, a job is supposed to come with wages unless your job is being a slave. Yet now we got an irrefutable strong piece of evidence reinforcing my suspicion: She has been working at the boarding house/school for a while now, yet she doesn't have enough money for some pesky souvenir. We are probably talking about the likes of 1000 yen here.
How is that not strange if she was paid like even a cook lacking formal education should be? The boarding house is probably a bloody black business. I reckon Kiyo might actually have a salary, but then the Mother will deduct an equal amount as living expenses. So, she's working for free, practically speaking. You occasionally hear about stuff like this, related to shady restaurants that exploit illegal immigrants, refugees, temporal work visa folks from poor countries, etc.
How is that not strange if she was paid like even a cook lacking formal education should be? The boarding house is probably a bloody black business. I reckon Kiyo might actually have a salary, but then the Mother will deduct an equal amount as living expenses. So, she's working for free, practically speaking. You occasionally hear about stuff like this, related to shady restaurants that exploit illegal immigrants, refugees, temporal work visa folks from poor countries, etc.
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Adorable.
@Kaarme She is paid a salary, then the Mother deducts her living expenses from it, gives her an allowance, and sends the rest of the money to her family. That is the custom for maiko until they reach full maturity in the business, usually at around age 21. While Chiyo has ended her maiko training, it appears that she is still treated like one in the boarding house system. Traditionally, you can say that the business "rents" the maiko from her family before she can be considered an independent woman, so there is a shady element to it, yes. In the maiko trade the system is also designed to encourage the maiko to provide better service so they can get a tip from the customers.
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Kenta's growth spurt is the evidence that the character aged in this manga...
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@sssr Sounds like you know what you are talking about. It makes sense, traditionally speaking, for the maiko. It's just strange because Kiyo hasn't been a maiko for a good long while anymore. She replaced the regular, old cook who worked for the house. It would be equally strange if her grandma actually accepted all of her salary no questions asked. If she did, for whatever reason, I guess she wouldn't use a yen of it, unless she craftily invested in the international stock market, and Kiyo will find it all when she eventually turns 20 (or whatever the age of majority in Japan still is).
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@sssr I appreciate your insight into maiko life. Aside from the fact that this series is sweet and charming, I enjoy it for the inside peek into the world of maiko and geisha beyond the tourist ad gloss I've encountered. The little details about the training and daily lives of the women still willing to work in this age-old occupation are fascinating.
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@Kaarme Bloody black business? Grandma buying stock? It sounds totally ridiculous. Each country's living condition and way of living is different from each other. The way you applied your own condition to another country is really bizarre.
About Kiyo, young people go to the city to work and send back money to their family back home is nothing strange. The grandma still has to pay tax especially for the house and the land she owns and I doubt someone as old as her has a stable income so it is understandable that Kiyo wants to help her with that. Kiyo doesn't have any certificate so her salary will be low and living expense in cities like Kyoto is expensive so when you deducted the living expense out of her salary, there won't be much left. Even apprentice chefs with a certificate don't have a high salary.
1000 yen is pesky? It is a really huge amount of money. I watch Japan reality shows and they consider anything 1000 yen and up is expensive. And with how Kyoto is a tourist spot, the price for the souvenirs will be inflated. My cousin went there this year and she couldn't afford to buy any souvenir after all the travel and living expense.
Living cost in Japan is really high. A lot of my acquaintances live there have to work from day to night to be able to cover the living expense so it is highly unlikely that someone who works such a meager job like Kiyo without any education would have much money to spare.
About Kiyo, young people go to the city to work and send back money to their family back home is nothing strange. The grandma still has to pay tax especially for the house and the land she owns and I doubt someone as old as her has a stable income so it is understandable that Kiyo wants to help her with that. Kiyo doesn't have any certificate so her salary will be low and living expense in cities like Kyoto is expensive so when you deducted the living expense out of her salary, there won't be much left. Even apprentice chefs with a certificate don't have a high salary.
1000 yen is pesky? It is a really huge amount of money. I watch Japan reality shows and they consider anything 1000 yen and up is expensive. And with how Kyoto is a tourist spot, the price for the souvenirs will be inflated. My cousin went there this year and she couldn't afford to buy any souvenir after all the travel and living expense.
Living cost in Japan is really high. A lot of my acquaintances live there have to work from day to night to be able to cover the living expense so it is highly unlikely that someone who works such a meager job like Kiyo without any education would have much money to spare.
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@miyako19 Japan is one of the most developed countries in the world, with a GDP much larger than Germany's. So, yeah, if I applied my own conditions to Japan, I'd actually need to consider Japan much poorer than it is. Truly bizarre. I find your descriptions hard to believe as they seem to depict a developing country, not one of the top 10 economic powerhouses in the world.
Probably every country has its own share of problems with shady business exploiting employees through various loopholes. The black companies are a standard stock of manga plots. Unfortunately, relevant to our interests, anime studios are among them, often paying a pittance to their workers.
1000 yen is only a huge amount in some developing countries. In Japan it buys you a single meal in a regular restaurant, not a fancy one. That's it.
Kiyo isn't renting an apartment in downtown Kyoto. If her single bed in the boarding house where she works is eating most of her salary, it's the very defition of exploitation.
Probably every country has its own share of problems with shady business exploiting employees through various loopholes. The black companies are a standard stock of manga plots. Unfortunately, relevant to our interests, anime studios are among them, often paying a pittance to their workers.
1000 yen is only a huge amount in some developing countries. In Japan it buys you a single meal in a regular restaurant, not a fancy one. That's it.
Kiyo isn't renting an apartment in downtown Kyoto. If her single bed in the boarding house where she works is eating most of her salary, it's the very defition of exploitation.
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As someone who has lived in Japan for a while and has friends still living there, I can tell you that everything there is EXPENSIVE. People often say that Japanese things are more expensive because they're better quality but til now I have yet to find the difference between the light soy sauce that Japan dubs 'tsuyu' and the regular light soy sauce in other Asian countries... Don't get me started on the fruits.
In any case, it is common for apprentices in Japan to earn very little while under mentorship if they are given room and board, sometimes as low as 2000yen (approx 20USD) a month, information is from a friend who used to work as an apprentice soba maker. If we consider how the other maiko are all buying their own skincare products and can afford to eat sweets maybe about once a month, both being fairly pricey things in Japan, they are definitely using money from tips that the clients give as the boarding house can't possibly be paying out so much. In Kiyo's case, she doesn't have the luxury of earning those tips and knowing how she is, she must be really be sending almost everything back home because she rarely has a need for extra money other than an occassional snack. The unfortunate bit about Kiyo's situation is that she might be earning the same as the maikos even though she doesn't ever use the kimono, hairpieces, or go for lessons, which is the main reason why maiko don't earn much.
In any case, it is common for apprentices in Japan to earn very little while under mentorship if they are given room and board, sometimes as low as 2000yen (approx 20USD) a month, information is from a friend who used to work as an apprentice soba maker. If we consider how the other maiko are all buying their own skincare products and can afford to eat sweets maybe about once a month, both being fairly pricey things in Japan, they are definitely using money from tips that the clients give as the boarding house can't possibly be paying out so much. In Kiyo's case, she doesn't have the luxury of earning those tips and knowing how she is, she must be really be sending almost everything back home because she rarely has a need for extra money other than an occassional snack. The unfortunate bit about Kiyo's situation is that she might be earning the same as the maikos even though she doesn't ever use the kimono, hairpieces, or go for lessons, which is the main reason why maiko don't earn much.
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