Schatzkiste -Chapter 2-: MAID OF THE DEAD III

Yes, it was Halloween, my friends.  Great opportunity for maid cafes to throw an event to attract customers.  One of my favorites, Schatzkiste also threw an event..... however..... in a different manner.  It was completely under the taste of the head housemaid.  It was not maids cheerfully trick-or-treating in the interior covered with cute Halloween decorations.  It was..... rather.... terrifying.  Indeed, I am sure some people did not go there on that weekend since they were so terrified by the pictures posted on the web.  It was MAID OF THE DEAD III: real zombie maids squirming and serving in the maid cafe.

It was early October when I saw scary-looking monkey in a cage hanging in the cafe.  It was a mismatch to the peaceful atmosphere of Schatzkiste.  Apparently, the monkey was brought in from a remote island by one of the maids.  This monkey turned ferocious and attacked maids, and......

The official story (sorry it is in Japanese!)
  -> http://schatz-kiste.net/eve_zombie.htm

"Infected" maids (day 1) *be careful if you are not used to scary stuff ! X-(
  -> http://yaplog.jp/schatzkiste/archive/2350

You will be surprised how "real" these maid zombies were.  As day goes by, they decay more.  I went on day 2 and day 3.  They seem to be maids-by-heart, thus even though they are now walking-dead, they still served orders and tried to make you smile by fooling around.  However, I was laughing but shaking all the time, since how they look were seriously terrifying.  I think it was my first time in my life that I experienced fear and laughter at the same time.

The cafe is back to normal and maids are back to humans by the herb found by one of the maids.  However, I am still traumatized and remembers the fear when I see maids who turned into zombies on that day, even though almost a week has passed already.

If you are a hardcore zombie fan, I highly recommend you to keep your eyes on the event announcements of Schatzkiste.  The event was the third time.  I am sure there will be the fourth :-p

PHOTO by Naottt

Schatzkiste -Chapter 2-: Wunderkiste

One of my favorite maid cafes in Akihabara, Schatzkiste -Chapter 2-, is currently holding a collaboration exhibition with Haruna Ikezawa.  She is a famous voice actress who played a role in Mariasama-ga Miteru as Yoshino Shimazu, Keroro Gunso as Momoka Nishizawa, and so on.  Indeed, she is the first voice actress whom I became a fan of.

It is a promotional event of her new music album, fantamujika.  You get to see panels of the lyrics and comments of lyric writers/composers (sorry, they are all in Japanese!).  Also, you get to know her visions through her own selection of private books that she generously made them available in one of the bookshelves in Schatzkiste, entitled as "Ikeawa's Bookshelf".  There are special teas and sweets that are only available during this event.

It was rather awkward experience for me being there.....  I became Haruna-san's fan almost decade ago before I go to US for a college.  I became Schatzkiste's fan after I came back to Japan.  Absolutely no link between these two within myself, but they came together to hold a collaborative exhibition.  I felt like I was standing on the crossroad of two streets that I used to live on but never imagined they would cross somewhere far down the road.

Also, it was rather sentimental moment.  I was talking about my memories of Haruna-san back when I was one of her fans with one of the maids.  I almost cried.  Do you want to know what the story was?  Well..... I guess I will just keep it in my heart as one of my precious memories of the youth :-p

The exhibition goes on till 7/29 Sun., so if you are around, don't miss it.  Even if you don't know who Haruna Ikezawa is, it is worth visiting just to have wonderful teas that she selected ;-)


Haruna Ikezawa x Schatzkiste
Exhibition "Wunderkiste -A Box of Wonders-"
blog (Japanese)
Map

Cafe Cicaro: Ai's Tea Party!

Probably, the maid cafe with the best classical maid outfit: Cafe Cicaro.  Unfortunately, you only get to see them once a while.  Why?  It is a nonregular maid cafe event, and when it opens next is up to how three sisters of Cicaro feel like :-p

This time, Ai, the youngest of the three, decided to open a tea party for everyone.  Quite chaotic but fan party it was.... her charm seems to have attracted many people to this small party.  She was innocent yet bizarre as usual.  When I was there, she said her oldest sister's era was over, and was ripping apart a picture of her sister that she drew. X-(

This cafe first appeared as an event in one of the university festivals in Tokyo.  I heard the dress was made by the students in clothing studies.  I love the dress of this cafe... probably my most favorite classical maid outfit in Japan now!  After the festival, they opened the cafe twice in Akihabara rental cafe, Cafe Triomphe.  This time, they opened the cafe in Cafe Favorite Piece, a new concept cafe in Akihabara.

If you want to go to this special maid cafe, you should keep your eyes on their blog, or their twitter account.  While it is up to your luck if you get to come across their next event, I highly recommend this cafe for English-speakers.  When I went there before with my friend from US, he said Ai was speaking very fluent English.  You probably will have no problem there even if you cannot speak Japanese ;-)

Cafe Cicaro
http://ameblo.jp/cicaro/