Roketsu-zome (wax-dyeing), or rozome for short, is one of the main textile design techniques used for the making of silk kimonos, along with katazome (using paste applied with a stencil), yuzenzome (the application of paste squeezed through a tube) and shibori (the use of binding, clamping or stitching). Many cultures practice these types of dyeing but few have reached the high levels of sophistication found in Japanese textiles. Rozome, more commonly known by its Javanese name, batik, has a long history dating back to 7th or 8th centuries and has many distinctive characteristics. The earliest textile fragments found in Japan were created using shibori techniques. Dr. Cox-Bishop, a researcher and educator in textile design at the University of Alberta, will discuss the characteristics and basic processes of rozome and shibori dyeing techniques. Some of the silk kimonos created by her students by using the rozome and shibori techniques will be shown during the presentation.

Rob Marshall's film “Memoirs of a Geisha” provides for many of its audience their first and most detailed glimpse into the traditional and hidden world of the “geisha”. This is unfortunate, because despite the thrilling spectacle of the costuming, soundtrack, and cinematography, and despite the tremendous care given to recreating certain aspects of pre-war Japan, the film on the whole forces a fantasy image of both Japan and “geisha” onto its subject. This fantasy, embodied in the character of Chiyo (Zhang Ziyi), and specifically in her blue eyes, creates an appropriation of Japan's traditions and those of the “geisha” in order, through this imposed exoticism, to 'naturalise' or 'normalise' the underlying understanding of Japan. Japan emerges as a dreamspace both accessible to and fundamentally identifiable as the West. This lecture will examine the ways in which “Memoirs of a Geisha” utilises appropriation and exoticism to recreate both Japan and the “geisha” in the West's own image."