is the Japanese term geisha working in (hot spring) resorts or towns, known for their traditions of performance and entertainment style, which differ significantly to geisha working in other areas of Japan. Historically, the term " geisha" has held mostly negative connotations with sex work, and has come to be synonymous with "sex worker" for a number of reasons, despite prostitution being made illegal in Japan in the 1950s. Despite connotations of low standards of performing arts, modern geisha hold the same training in the arts as geisha from other regions of Japan. Early to mid-20th century In early to mid-20th century Japan, geisha were geisha living and working in the hot spring resort towns of Japan. Because of the transient nature of hot spring resort guests - who, unlike the patrons of geisha elsewhere, were unlikely to patronise the same geisha over a long period of time - the term " geisha", and the entertainment offered by geisha, came to be regarded negatively, as geisha were not bound by contracts, were unlikely to build a steady clientele of repeat customers, were not bound by the geisha "lineages" seen elsewhere and were regarded as the least-artistically educated, the implication being that guests of geisha sought them out not for their skills in the traditional arts, but for their availability as sex workers. geisha were also able to move from town to town easily, a factor aided by their lack of a contract tying them down to any one . During this period, some geisha were sponsored by businessmen who made yearly visits; these patrons were known as . Sayo Masuda, an geisha in the late 1930s and early 1940s and author of Autobiography of a Geisha, the first book of any kind about the geisha lifestyle, wrote that a typical geisha's contract was bought out by a patron for about 30 yen (around 20,000 yen today) and never for more than 100. Interaction with other customers beyond party entertainment was common; therefore, the concept of geisha as sex workers was not entirely incorrect in the earlier half of the 20th century. Masuda wrote that geisha in this time would be taught some traditional geisha skills, but were also frequently pressured into having sex. Graduation to full geisha status for geisha always involved - losing one's virginity to a patron or other paying customer - and unscrupulous mothers could sell a