Maiko-Henshin Studio Shiki — Local services in Kyoto

My wife and me decided to rent a yukata here because we saw an ad in our hotel. It was a great experience and it was fun to walk around Kyoto in the traditional clothes. Staff was friendly and spoke English. However, there were things that ruined my experience.

1. We both had to choose our yukata separately in different rooms, so my wife couldn't give me her opinion on which yukata to choose and I couldn't help her choose either. We both agreed that we would be happier if we could choose together.

2. We paid for "professional" photo. The photographer took a picture and showed it to us on the camera display. We were happy about it. But when we came to return the yukata, we were given the printed photo which was too bright and overall not very high quality. What was even worse, when we wanted them to send the picture to us by e-mail, they wanted to charge us ¥1000 for it. Even though it was a rip off, I was ready to pay for it, but then I noticed that the photo would be a 500 kB JPEG file!!! I can't believe they were serious. I completely understand that the studio needs to make profit, the photographer needs to provide for her family and the owner needs to pay the rent. But how can you charge ¥1000 for just sending an email? You already have the file on your PC, you don't need to edit it, all you need to do is to type email address, attach the file and click Send. Also, why would you send a low quality image (500 kB) when you can send a good quality one?

I was disappointed that we were not given our photo in digital format and even though I enjoyed the yukata rental, I would use a different company next time. Considering the high quality of services in Japan,...

Cosplay time. The girls were dressed as Geisha and the males were dressed in a Hakama & Kimono set. Everyone was polite & friendly. I am taking 2 stars off for 2 things: 1) when it was time to review for my photo package that I reserve online, they said my photo package comes with 2 color photos. I told them I didn’t want 2 color photos. I was interested in having 1 photo in color and the other in black & white, since the shadow pictures looked awesome. They said they couldn’t do any changes. So then I told them to cancel my reservation, since I can’t purchase for what I want. Then all of the sudden, changes can be made. The second inconveniences was after you paid, you get a booklet with your professional photos and a little USB. Tell me why when I got back to the United States, I had my friend’s USB and they had mine. So now I had to pay for my USB to get shipped to my house. This could’ve been avoided if the person who was developing the pictures was marking the USB, so no confusion or mistakes can be made. Overall, it was a fun experience. Just little things need some improvements. Also, you get 10 free minutes to take pictures...

The staff were very helpful and I really like that you can't take photos before you are ready because it gives this wonderful sense of being all feminine and girlie and putting our makeup on and not having to worry about someone taking a picture or you or if your underwear is showing (you are in a gown when getting makeup done) The makeup wasn't perfect unfortunately, I asked her to even out my lips as one side was bigger than the other, and she tried but unfortunately they were still uneven. But you couldn't see on the photos. Good English instructions were given everywhere which was so helpful. Also a locker is provided and you can go outside for 10minutes when you're all done in your Kimono. I really loved the experience, I highly recommend you go and enjoy the tradition. You might want to take a hairtie and a headband because afterwards you have to take off the makeup which is on your back and with my hair down...