Before she was Kimono Mom, Moe was a secondary school dropout. During her Hong Kong visit in March 2023, she talked to Tatler about everything she’s overcome to be here
Traditional gender roles and women empowerment are not often associated with each other. In fact, they are often quite opposite and contradict each other. Take for example the hashtag #tradwife (“traditional wife”) which has been trending on TikTok recently, where women are using the platform to promote the return to traditional and patriarchal values.
For Moe (who asked that only her first name is used), better known as Kimono Mom to her 1.6M subscribers on YouTube, being in the kitchen and promoting traditional Japanese cuisine has never been synonymous with conforming to the roles of wife and mother that’s been forced upon her, and it’s not a role she’s taken on to adhere to her husband’s expectations.
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“My whole life I’ve only done things for me, not for anybody else,” she tells Tatler over a latte during her visit to Hong Kong. “It’s like wearing my kimono. I wear it for me, not for views. It’s my identity.”
Kimonos are much more than an outfit for Moe—by wearing them as a daily reminder of her pledge to preserve traditional Japanese culture but not the obedience often expected of women, she is serving the look with a twist of empowerment and strong undertones of gender equality.
From geisha to successful YouTuber, and with bouts of homelessness and postpartum depression along the way, the 32-year-old has lived a number of lives before arriving where she is today.
Accidentally in love
Moe was born in slow-paced Kyoto and surrounded by craftsmanship and traditions. Her grandfather, a calligraphy teacher in Gion, was particularly influential in her life. On the threshold of her 16th birthday, he helped on a school project about people working in “unique jobs” by putting her in touch with one of his geisha students to meet and interview. It was a life changing experience for Moe.
“After that, I was certain I wanted to become a geisha,” Moe says. “I fell so much in love with the heritage of Kyoto that I wanted to become a part of it.”