Dawn Porter is 29, gorgeous and single. She’s had plenty of boyfriends but no one she can imagine settling down with. Now ready for a relationship, Dawn is keen to look at the different ways it can be done. From polygamy and free love to mail order brides and geisha, Dawn travels the world to look at the most extreme ways women find love, and live, with men. What are the costs of living these extreme ways? Does it really make people happy? And can it teach Dawn anything about the way she’d like to live her life?

In the third of four programmes, Dawn travels to Japan to immerse herself in the ancient and painstaking rituals of Japan’s ultimate party girls: geisha. From the raunchy hot springs of Arima Onsen to the sophisticated geisha houses of historic Kyoto, Dawn takes a crash course in how to gratify Japanese businessmen. “Can dedicating your life to pleasing men make you happy?” she asks.

In this rare glimpse into a mysterious world, Dawn gains access to train as a geisha under the strict tutelage of a renowned madam in Japan’s famous Kyoto district, after which she is allowed to entertain a client. From tea ceremonies and traditional dances to parties and drinking games, Dawn hurls herself headlong into the world of the geisha. Speaking to the clients, the madams, the girls and their families she tackles some of the enduring myths about geisha and discovers some equally strange truths along the way.

Tuesday 14 October 2008, Channel 4, 10PM