This wonderful book, written by Boye De Mente as a tribute to the geisha was printed in Japan, but occasionally can be found in used bookstores. The full title is Some Prefer Geisha: the Lively Art of Mistress-Keeping in Japan (1966) and it boasts some lively brush and ink illustrations by Tadahito Nadamoto interspersed throughout the book. 

The fly-leaf describes the book best: “Some prefer geisha. Some prefer call girls, cabaret hostesses, coffee-shop waitresses, and other modern types. Some even prefer their own wives upon occasion. But all agree that mistress-keeping in Japan is here to stay — whether the girls wear kimono, or black lace or, in a communal bath, nothing at all.” And De Mente takes a no-holds barred look at it all, with terrific stories, including WWII GIs who used an ambulance with a female “patient” to charge other GIs $5 for a half-hour of entertainment, to a number of women that take special pleasure in seducing “good” husbands with a loving wife at home. 

In 167 amazing pages, De Mente takes a grand tour through the history of Japanese mistresses, to various types, hostess-hunting, notes on seduction, and how much money should be paid by customers wishing to formally end a relationship with a mistress. The book is a tour de force of the water trades (mizu shobai), and an important research resource for any scholar investigating this aspect of Japanese culture.