Mineko Iwasaki?

Question

Can anyone please tell me about the Arthur Golden and Mineko Iwasaki case? I know that she sued him for when he put incorrect information in his book, Memoirs of a Geisha. I also know he put her in the acknowledgements when she had specifically told him to keep the interview strictly confidential. In result of it, she had numerous complaints about keeping the secret of the geisha. I need to know who won the case, and any websites (execpt Wikipedia) about Mineko Iwasaki. Thanks.

Answer 1

Geisha Controversy: The Legal Battle between Arthur Golden and Iwasaki Mineko

Kate Hanley

Upon completing Arthur Golden’s popular 1997 novel, Memoirs of a Geisha, many readers report that they do not believe that it is indeed fiction. Interestingly, Golden gives thanks to one geisha in particular for providing him with the knowledge to create such a realistic account of the Gion, a geisha district of Kyoto. “To Mineko, thank you for everything,” Golden writes in the acknowledgements. Mineko Iwasaki, who Golden interviewed for his novel, is a retired geisha who was extremely accomplished during her days working in Gion. If Golden’s novel has been so successful, and he thanks Iwasaki so warmly, why is she suing him for defamation of character? Iwasaki claimed that she only revealed to her secrets to Golden with the understanding that she would remain confidential. He denies any confidentiality agreement. Mineko Iwasaki is angry at how Golden portrayed the geisha district of Gion, and especially how he covered the sexual aspect of the geisha life. She thinks that he made geisha look like exotic prostitutes. Iwasaki was also extremely upset at the subject of mizuage in the novel. Not only did Iwasaki file charges, create a scandal, and end up settling out of court, she has recently published her own biography entitled Geisha, a Life intended to clarify the difference between the real geisha world, and the story she says that Golden got all wrong. From thorough examination of many sources regarding this topic including Golden’s novel, Iwasaki’s autobiography, and many articles concerning their conflict, it is evident that this controversy is less about money and more about pride.
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Author

Colin HarrisonMineko Iwasaki was one of the most famed geishas of her generation (and the chief informant for Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha). Born in 1949, Mineko began training in the arts of dance and etiquette when she was five years old. Soon after becoming a full-fledged geisha, Mineko was lauded as the star geisha of the Gion Kobu of Kyoto. She held that position until retirement at the age of twenty-nine. Now fifty-two, Mineko has one daughter and lives with her husband in a Kyoto suburb.
Bibliography (with links to Amazon.com):
Geisha: A Life (October 2002)

***Real Geisha, Real Story
Monday, Nov. 25, 2002 By ALYSSA KOLSKY

Answer 2

Mineko Iwasaki