I am a trans-Pacific 'transplant' Japanese American.  As such, I depend on eBay as a source of all things Japanese.  Last spring, I developed a fondness for authentic Japanese kimono.  (No doubt watching 'Last Samurai' and more recently 'The Memoirs of a Geisha' probably had something to do with it.)  Beautiful silk kimono are gorgeous, but almost impossible to put on all by yourself and equally if not more so to have it professionally cleaned here in the US.  So I compromised.  I decided to buy the less formal and easier-to-care-for cotton yukata instead.  After all, yukata is a casual form of kimono and can be put on all by oneself.  And the garment is washable!  I figured that shopping for one would be easy.  Just log onto eBay and type in 'yukata' for the search and a list would pull up.  Simple, right?  Well, not exactly.  So to share my experience with other like-minded people or American women who are looking to buy an authentic Japanese yukata (as worn by actual Japanese women and girls today at summer festivals and such), here's my guide.