Mizu Shöbai( Water Business) blends two stories, one of a geisha who is lost at sea and
the other of the first geisha to circle the world. The dual narratives collapse into a single
female figure, a traveler through time and across cultures. The geisha drifts beyond the
prescribed bounds of her "place" in the world, observing anything and everything. The
Shogun's Seclusion Edict, effective during Japan's period of isolation (1637-1868) states
that foreign influence is punishable by death, so the geisha's passive observations become an active, fatal offence. Mizu Shöbai, literally Water Business, is the Japanese term for the entertainment world. The phrase refers to liquor, sex, as well as the geisha's often maudlin lifestyle which "flows like water." "Through lyrical images and narrative shards, Lin builds a critique of the ways in which the figure of the Japanese woman exists in the imaginary.
