A very good book.
I thought Masuda did a great job describing her life the many joys, losses, hardships, etc. A heartbreaking story of a Japanese low class Geisha.Her trials and trepidations,the cruelty that was imposed to her,makes this book sad and at the same time interesting.Most people only think of the Kyoto or Shimbashi Geisha, but this opens a person's eyes to the country geisha as well.
As for the footnotes I know it is distracting, but the weight of the book was light and it didn't bother me. I have a solution when the footnotes are at the back of the book, I photocopy the footnotes and have the copy as a bookmark.