When Kiyoha Kiritaka left Kyoto's geisha district in 2016, she says she was escaping what she now calls "a system of slavery," exposing a darker reality behind one of Japan's most celebrated traditions.Kiritaka entered the world of geisha as a teenager, drawn by a love of traditional arts. She practiced Japanese dance, the shamisen and tea ceremony, hoping one day to become a fully fledged geisha.But after just over a year as a maiko, or apprentice geisha, she says she found herself trapped in what she describes as an "extremely abnormal world."Her path began in junior high school. Aspiring…READ FULL ARTICLE
