Memoirs or a Geisha takes place in two cities of China. Kyoto and the fiction town of Yoroido. Yoroido is a small fishing village where Chiyo grew up as a little girl until she was taken away to Kyoto. Kyoto is a Geisha district where Chiyo first started taking classes to be the outstanding geisha she would become. This is also where she got her geisha name of Sayuri. Most of her entertaining was done at Teahouses in Goin, where she would meet Nobu and the Chairman, two key characters in the book.