Cultivating Women

The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House is a Japanese television series on Netflix that tells the story of two young teen girls who leave their hometown after finishing middle school to become maiko, which are apprentice female entertainers in Kyoto. It's going to seem strange and perhaps a little alarming to westerners, but this is actually a career option for young women in Japan, and they have to start training when they're quite young.

Right off the bat it helps to know the difference between maiko, geiko and geisha, but I'll give you the short version: maiko are apprentice geiko, aged 15 to 20, who undergo 5 years of training to become geiko; geiko is the term for geisha-type entertainers over the age of 20 particular to Kyoto, and geisha are female entertainers (not prostitutes) skilled in the art of dancing, conversation and other forms of very strictly governed and highly cultured entertainment. Yes, that really is the short version. These entertainers also have a long and interesting history, and it's worth learning more about it if you really want to understand the series and all the things they don't explain, but you can pick up on most of it as you go along if you don't want to do the reading.

The premise: Sixteen-year-old best friends Kiyo (Nana Mori) and Sumire (Natsuki Deguchi) leave the hometown to move to Kyoto, where they join an all-female house of entertainers to train to become maiko, and ultimately geiko. While Sumire is a natural, and shines from the very beginning, her friend Kiyo quickly demonstrates she doesn't have the talent for the job. Kiyo is a wonderful cook, however, and rather than leave her friend and return home she makes a bid to become the makanai, or live-in chef for the house.

I think first and foremost the series is a loving tribute to Japanese cooking, and features at least one interesting dish every episode. Some of the very intricate details of training for this profession are shown, too. Otherwise, it's just the story of a very sweet friendship between two girls. There are a few conflicts, but they're mild and quickly shuffled aside. Basically it's a pleasant story that doesn't really resolve anything because nothing is particularly troubling or the situations are ongoing. After all the action thrillers I've been watching lately it was a nice change of pace. Available now on Netflix.