FUKUI — Thirty years ago, the hot-spring resort city of Awara in Fukui Prefecture, along the Sea of Japan coast, prided itself on having about 250 geisha entertainers.

Now there are only 15. So the 130-year-old spa city is offering vacationers the chance at a hands-on geisha experience, to help keep alive the world of the traditional entertainers.

In Kyoto's popular Gion entertainment district, as well, geisha hold mock tea ceremonies for ¥500 per person, while those in other parts of the country have organized events to attract visitors hoping to receive a firsthand look at the geisha system, which some say dates back to the second half of the 1600s.

Geisha have traditionally been regarded as entertainers skilled in singing, dancing, playing musical instruments and conversation, and patronized by wealthy people and politicians.

But the number of geisha has been on the decline due to deterioration of the economy and reduced opportunities for them to demonstrate their talents. Traditional inns are also steadily disappearing.

The geisha in Awara give guests a chance to meet them for ¥3,000 in a season-limited program. The meeting includes "janken" rock-paper-scissors play equivalent to tossing a coin to decide the winner in a game held in a dance training room of the "kemban," or control office.

Men take off their jackets behind a folding screen set up as a partition and step into the room to the accompaniment of a shamisen played by geisha. Geisha and guests then play the roles of a mother, a tiger or other characters as part of the program.

The low fee compares with the going rate of ¥60,000 clients pay for service provided by a group of four geisha over a two-hour period.

The visitors get a rare opportunity to look at the backstage of the kemban, which also sends geisha to teahouses and restaurants. Normally, the place is off-limits to visitors.

The Gion district, where the program of pseudo tea ceremonies debuted, is known as an area that shuns first-time visitors without a letter of introduction.

During one visit, geisha appeared in kimono and heavy white makeup. One gracefully wiped tea utensils with a square "fukusa" silk cloth. A "maiko" apprentice geisha brought a cup of tea and placed it in front of a guest.

Tea ceremonies were held three times a day attracting 2,000 people in three months and tickets sold out within 20 minutes.

Shamisen-playing geisha in the Arima hot-spring area in Kobe teach visitors the traditional song "Sakura, Sakura" ("Cherry Blossoms, Cherry Blossoms") for ¥4,000 an hour.

The tradition-bound mansion Enkikan of the Meiji Era in Niigata has a plan for visitors to take in a geisha dance for ¥1,000. Visitors can also tour the geisha quarter in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, and the hot-spring city of Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Osamu Ito, a counselor at the Kyoto Traditional Musical Art Foundation called Ookini Zaidan, terms it "necessary" to create places that "protect our culture."