Mistery Wooden jewelry box Geisha Hand Painted

Wooden box..looks like hand painted
I do not know why, but everytime I see something that looks like it could be Japanese, I get excited hoping for a good value...
It's about time to learn some Japanese alphabet, as 1/3 of my co-workers are Japanese--at least I got help identifying my finds as "not Japanese" :)

Any ideas? The ladies on the box, to me, look like geishas but I was told the dresses are not Japanese..
The letters look like Arabic, but it doesn't make sense..
Thanks for your help.

Regards