A Kimono in a Crowd... there's a reason you see a lot of such pictures of women in Japan - when one passes by, everyone leaps for their cameras! The result is that people outside the country still (still!!) have an image of Japan as a place where Japanese women wear kimonos. No - it's not true. I mean... there are some women wearing them for sure, but the vast (and I do mean vast) majority of women here never ever ever ever wear them. Everyone likes them - but they're rather difficult to wear, and the expense and rarity of them excludes them from general use. But... but, but... they are interesting and beautiful at the right time and on the right occassion... worn in a certain way by women who are comfortable in them.....

Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/