Royal/T Café: Beyond the Realm of Otaku

Looks like a maid cafe is not unique to Japan any longer.  Along with growing attention to Japanese pop culture, maid cafes are emerging around the world.  Royal/T Café is one of them.  It is located in Los Angels.  Yes, United States of America, my friends :-)

Last month when I was in LA for business, I visited there for the first time.  It was my very first experience visiting a maid cafe outside Japan.  How was it?  Well.......  it was nothing like any maid cafes that I have seen in Japan.  Indeed, I am not sure if I should call this place maid cafe, or pop culture cafe.

The bright interior with a tall bare wood roofing provides fresh atmosphere to the cafe.  Walls are decorated with modern art pieces, and there is a small shop area where they sell cool fashion & pop culture items.  There is a DJ booth where actual DJ was playing club music as BGM.  Customers were all couples or families: I think I was the only one who was there alone.  Yes, waitresses were all dressed in maid costumes and there were Japanese style foods and drinks on the menu, but I did not feel any sense of "otaku" that I feel in many maid cafes. :-p

I think Royal/T has evolved maid cafe out from realm of otaku, and took it to the completely different level where anybody can visit and enjoy.  I think it is an interesting case to study when we talk about evolution of the maid cafes.  While I don't think this will be the final form of the maid cafes, it will surely be one of the future forms.

Royal/T Café
http://www.royal-t.org/
MAP

Cafe Favorite Piece: Find your favorite pieces!

I should spend more time with this blog.  There are still many concept cafes out there that I should write about.  If I'm not quick enough, I might loose an opportunity to write about it forever.  Many cafes emerges, yet close in this industry.  Favorite Piece is one of them.... it "officially" closed this month.

The cafe was famous for bagels, and the waitress was dressed in bakery looking costume.  While the cafe was filled by favorite pieces of everyone, what is my “favorite piece“?  Probably the precious time that I spent with the people there.  Including the regulars, people there were nice and welcoming.  Combined with the warm cozy environment, you would have felt at home once you get used to it.  I always enjoy having some deep discussions about concept cafes and family restaurants with cute costumes.  Especially owner of this place had waitress experiences in various cafes and restaurants, and her knowledge in this field is one of the kinds :-)

While the place is "officially" closed, it seems like FP plans to continuing periodic events here and there.  If you can read Japanese, follow there tweets and find out the latest updates!

Cafe Favorite Piece
http://favoritepiece.com/
MAP

forget-me-not: Like a Newly Born Flower....

Just like how buds grow and flowers bloom, a small maid cafe with a magnificent potential was born in a corner of Akihara this spring.  It is called "forget-me-not".  Yes, just like a name of the flower.  Indeed, it is not just a mere maid cafe, but it is also a maid flower shop.

Located right by a small park, this newly born cafe opened just a few weeks ago.  While it is not that far from the main street of Akihabara Electric Town, you will be surprised how quiet and calm the cafe is.  Drinking a cup of coffee while gazing at the flowers by the entrance illuminated by the calm sunlight from the windows......... you easily loose a sense of reality.  I never felt so good just drinking a cup of coffee without doing anything.

Yes, you can also just purchase flowers there.  There is a "gardener" who will prepare the flowers for you.  It looks like a flower is one of a key concept of this cafe.  There are small books about flower fairies on the tables of the cafe space.  All maids have flowers on their hair bands, that is prepared for them every morning by the gardener.  Most of all, all maids have names that were taken from flowers that represents themselves.

Schatzkiste that I mentioned in my previous post apparently "produced" this cafe.  You see a lot of commonalities between these two cafes: classical hand-made(!) interiors, calm cozy environment, very sophisticated classical maid outfit...  However, the cafe is very unique on its own, and has this fresh atmosphere of newly born cafe.  I am very curious which direction this place might go.  My desire to observe the everyday changes of this place is too strong that I've been holding myself from blasting off the highway for over two hours to go to this place!

Since it is slightly off even from the side street, it might be little difficult to find this place.  Although, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS PLACE!  If you walk around Akihabara and got tired, just look for this small flower shop.  I am sure the flowers will cure both your tired body & mind :-)

forget-me-not
http://fogemino.blogspot.jp/
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Soup Curry Kamui: Hardcore Soup Curry from Hokkaido!

Another biased opinion about maid cafes & restaurants: cute costumes, bad food & drink.  WRONG!  If you have such an image on maid cafe & restaurants, go to Soup Curry Kamui.  Its soup curry is too good that you don't care if the waitress is wearing maid outfit or not.  (Although, please pay attention to her maid costume....  It's also great! ;-)

Indeed, the waitress is dressed in the maid outfit only on weekends & holidays, but I always go there even on weekdays just to have a great soup curry.  I even know some of my friends who go there, order curry soup without rice, and just drink it off like a juice.  It is that ADDICTIVE.  They use some serious spices, which is turned into anthropomorphic (or gijin-ka) characters by customers, and all these character illustrations (40 of them!) are displayed on the wall of Kamui.  (And you will be surprised how fabulous these illustrations are.)  You can pick spiciness of the curry when you order: I've only gone up to 5-kara or 5th level spiciness, but I think you could go up to 30-kara.  I have no clue how hot the 30-kara curry would be, or even if a human can survive that level......  I am looking forward to take my college roommate from Indonesia there one day and have him try 30-kara (He LOVED spicy foods :-p)

Also, they have periodic collaboration menu with other concept cafes or magazines/blogs, which they call "love-collabo".  The upcoming ones include the collaboration with my favorite Pondichery Etoile, that I am really looking forward to.  Indeed, I was quite surprised that they were going to collaborate with the cafe that is on the other side of Tokyo: very interesting how "connected" the concept cafe community is :-)

As I mentioned, the waitress there only dresses in the maid outfit on weekends.  There are two types of costumes: Kamui-original maid costume that was recently made, and the costume of legendary maid cafe Cafe Primevere that used to exist in Hokkaido.  There is a deep story on why they are using Primevere costume...  Why?  Well, I might mention about it some other time.....

Where Kamui is located is on the other side of the river from Akihabara station, where people consider more as "Kanda" rather than "Akiba".  However, I call this area "Akihabara frontier", since small but excellent maid-style shops are emerging in this area.  If you go to Akihabara next time, don't just wonder around that station area which is fully developed & organized.  Just cross that river and step forward, and be a pioneer!

Soup Curry Kamui
http://www.soupcurry-kamui.com/index.html
MAP

Pondichery Etoile: An Oasis in the Nightless City

Akihabara is not the only place where concept cafes exist.  There is one in Shinjuku called Pondichery Etoile, one of my favorites.  The cafe is somewhat hidden: in order to get there, you have to go through famous entertainment district Kabuki-cho and Golden-gai.  Once you pass all adult-like bars and clubs, there is a small building with unfit cute Anime-like signs.  Entrance is very fishy: my maid-cafe friend Takatora-san was surprised when I told him I found the place by chance and went in alone without prior information :-p

Original Pondichery is located in 2F as maid reflexology.  In 4th floor, there is a sister bar called Pondichery Printemps which is Tokusatsu Bar, and Etoile is located in the 5th floor.  It is a "Lolita Fashion Cafe & Bar".  Girls there are dressed in lolita fashion. What is your image of lolita?  Cute and delicate?  Yes, I give them cute...... but delicate, I wonder! ;-p

Girls there are hardcore.  They have deep Otaku knowledge.  They serve alcohol and cook real foods.  (Sometime they even make fried foods in lolita costumes...)  They are outspoken.  And most of all, they work until 4 in the morning....  Yes, the place is open until 4 am EVERY DAY!! (>_<)/

Since I find this place, I have a place to go even passed midnight.  Last Friday, I went to Tokyo in my co-worker's car.  We got to Tokyo in 2:30AM.  Guess what?  We went to Etoile, and they were OPEN!  Not only open, but people were there and we had fun!  Apparently, it was a birthday of one of two girls who was working there that night, thus one of the regulars brought a birthday cake for her.  We sang birthday song for her in like 3AM in the morning.  Hardcore, isn't it ;-)

Midnight Shinjuku might be a bit challenging for the people who are temporary visiting Tokyo, so if you want to try this place out, I recommend you to go there in afternoon.  They are open around 2 or 3PM.  I am not sure if they have English menu.  If you are a challenger, come at night.  The one who is always drinking peppermint tea is me :-p

Pondichery Etoile
http://pondi.jp/e/index.html
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The Granvania: 1-coin lunch!

If you want to make a quick stop in Akihabara and visit a maid cafe, probably Granvania is the one.  It is right by the Electric Town Exit of Akihabara station, right under the railways.  (There are two other maid cafes also right by the same exit, but I personally don't like those, so don't confuse with those :-p)  It used to be an old cafe called Corona which already existed when I first started going to Akihabara back in my school days, and its antique interior & Corona coffee still remains in Granvania.  While it calls itself "European Guild-style Restaurant", they serve decent food in a reasonable price, and they also serve alcohol.

I love this place since their weekday lunch is soooo reasonable.  They have set meals with soup and salad, and it only cost 500 yen.  Yes!  One coin!  The quantities are decent (of course in Japanese standard in case you live in a country like US where everything is LARGE :-p), and they taste good!  I also ate there last Monday, when I took paid holiday and went to Akihabara. ;-)

I often see people from abroad visiting there.  I heard from one of maids that they do have English menu for people who cannot read Japanese, so I highly recommend this place also to all of you who cannot read or speak Japanese.

The Granvania
http://the-granvania.ciao.jp/
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/

Schatzkiste -Chapter 2- : Vocaloid Card Game

My favorite maid cafe, Schatzkiste.  Yes, it is the same cafe as in my very old post, but it is now chapter 2.  It used to be an attick filled with master's memory...  now it is a private library built by masterless maids!
I like this place as an “otaku's salon“.  In chapter 1, this cafe was truly tiny like an attick, thus it was common to sit on the same table with strangers.  Even though people don't know each other to begin with, eventually, people start talking or playing board games together.  Sometime, someone who you sat with might open up a door to a new world that you never experienced otherwise.  Of course, most of the times they are otaku related :-p
This culture has been inherited to chapter 2.  Even though the place is much bigger now, they located two 6 seated tables in the middle of the cafe.  People who sat on these tables communicates with each other.  Just like old days.  ;-)
Today, I took paid holiday and went there alone.  I found VOCALOID card game there, but no one whom I knew was there at the time.  I invited two other customers who was there to play the game with me.  A maid came to teach us how to play the game.  In a few minutes we were enjoying the game together.  Even after the game, I was talking about old Akihabara with the guy whom I was playing the game with.  Yes, we were the strangers only minutes ago.  I think it is rare to have such an experience in Tokyo nowadays.
For those of you who is looking for not so-called maid cafes but genuine classical maid cafe, this is it!  You might want to go with Japanese speaking friends.... unfortunately, two English speaking maids are quitting soon X-<
Schatzkiste
http://schatz-kiste.net/
Map

I am back!

Hello everyone.  I'm back!

Yesterday, I was talking with my Maid-cafe friend in one of the older maid cafes, Mai:lish.  We were talking about how maid cafes are misunderstood among general population.  Most people think moe-moe style cafes are the only maid cafes that are out there, or some people even think it is some weird perverted thing... X-<

In my opinion, maid cafes, or in a broader term "concept cafes", are one of the most interesting Japanese sub-culture now out there.  While more than a decade has passed since the first maid cafe was born in Akihabara, the culture is still filled with a frontier spirit!  Each cafe is very unique: if you go to one of the cafes and you don't like it, try another one.  There is a high chance that you will find another one very different, and you might LOVE it!

My maid-cafe friend told me that there are many people outside Japan who are also interested in maid cafes, but the information in English is very limited and people don't know where to go.  He said I should create a web site in English about maid cafes.  I remembered I already had one :-p

I will change the style a bit from my previous posts.  I will take "diary" style instead of "review" style.  I will not be a reporter but one of the customers, and write whatever I felt in free-style.  This way, I think I have a better chance not killing this blog, and continue posting new and fresh information to English-speaker people out there.  If you have any specific questions, feel free to leave a comment to my posts.  I will try to answer to them as much as possible.

Anyways, I am about to go to Akihabara now!  See ya!

Milkey Maid Parlour

Location: Tokyo : Akihabara : Denki-gai Area

Last Visited: February 2007

Total Budget: 5000 yen ~ 1000 yen

English Menu: not available

Hours: 10:00 ~ 20:00

Web Site: http://milkey-maid.com/

Access: map <- click!! (3F)

Comment:

Newly opened on February!

I was personally surprised when I encountered a maid from A-Boy (Maid cafe that closed on Fall 2006) here……….. (-_- ;;;;

CAFE & DIMENSION

Location: Tokyo : Akihabara : Suehiro-cho Area

Last Visited: February 2007

Total Budget: 1000 yen ~ 2000 yen

English Menu: not available

Hours: 11:30 ~ 22:00

Web Site: http://www.and-dimension.com/

Access: map <- click!! (B1F)

Comment:

Great food!! Great great food!!

It is more like a classy cafe rather than a maid cafe. Combined with the fact that it is located on off-skirt of Akihabara, I have seen so many non-otaku customers here. Not to mention businessmen from surrounding office area, I was shocked when I saw three old ladies in Kimono at this place!!

Also, maids here are very nice and popular among other maids in Akihabara. At least, I have heard maids recommending this place at Schatzkiste and Merry Heart.

I usually go here when I want to have a meal (since my favorite Schatzkiste only serve tea and sweets like cookies).

Schatzkiste

Location: Tokyo : Akihabara : Denki-gai Area

Last Visited: February 2007

Total Budget: 500 yen ~ 1000 yen

English Menu: not available

Wed. ~ Mon. 12:00 ~ 22:00

Tue. Closed

Web Site: http://schatz-kiste.net/

Access: map <- click!! (5F)

Comment:

The concept of this cafe is “an attic”. It is considered as a secret attic left by a young master who got married in a foreign country. The maids served this master, and are maintaining this attic while dreaming about the day when the young master returns. Thus, unlike other maid cafes, you will not be called “Goshujin-sama(master)” or “Ojo-sama(my lady)” when you enter. You will be considered as a guest who is visiting the attic.

Also, formally Shatzkiste is categorized as “maid art cafe”. You will be able to see and buy paper dolls, drawings, books or CDs made by maids.

Aside from the “classy” aspect of the cafe, maids here are hardcore otaku. If you could talk to them in Japanese, they will be a good source of information about female otaku culture.

Several things to note: cafe is very small that it has 3 tables and 1 desk with 16 seats. Thus, sharing a table with other customers is quite common here. I like this since I get to talk to people, but some of you may not feel comfortable. Also, you will be charged every 30 minutes, so be careful how long you stay. The relaxing atmosphere will completely screw up your sense of time!! Some of you may consider this service charge as expensive, but considering that you have free refill of tea and free wireless Internet connection, I think it is reasonable.

This is currently my favorite maid cafe in Japan. The only problem for the readers of this site may be the fact that none of the maids can speak English. Otherwise, I highly recommend this place.

Long Time No See

My last article was written on October ’06……….. That means, I haven’t written a new article for almost 3 months now!! Also, I still don’t have all reviews completed for the maid cafes that I have already visited.

Aside from the fact that I am lazy, I came up with two reasons why this happened:

• I have been busy with my job, especially in January: I could not go to Akihabara at all during this month!!
• I have too much information on my review. It takes about 1~2 hours to finish one article.

I guess I cannot do anything about the first reason, but I can do something about the latter one. I think it comes down to whether I take amount of information per review or number of reviews. I think I should reduce amount of information but cover as much cafes as I can, since I am starting to question how many English-speaking people care very detailed information like if a particular maid cafe has communication notebook or not. (-_- ;;;;

Anyways, let me know if you have any suggestions about this site. You can just pick a random article and add comment to it, even thought the suggestion has nothing to do with the article.

Merry Heart

Location: Tokyo : Akihabara : Suehiro-cho Area

Last Visited: September 2006

Following people should go:

- People who want to interact with ‘otaku’ maids

Costume: modified European maid style / various colors

Total Budget: 1500 yen ~ 2000 yen

Service Charge:

Counter seats: 500 yen

Table seats: 300 yen after 5:00 pm

Time Limit: make 1 order every 1 hour

English Menu: available

Stamp Card: available

Communication Notebook: hidden

CHEKI Photo Shooting: available (I forgot the price…….)

Hours: 11:00 ~ 22:00

Web Site: http://merryheart.jp/

Access:

map <- click!!

From Suehiro-cho station exit number 2, head two blocks north, and turn right. You will see a stand-up sign saying “Merry Heart” on the right, which you cannot miss. You can also walk from Akihabara station if you wish, since it is only a station away by subway.

Comment:

You will be surprised how ‘otaku’ or maniac the maids are at this maid bar. It seems maids in Akihabara are usually otaku in some ways, but most of them cannot express it since they are bounded by a strict service manual. Of course this bar also seems to have a manual, but enough freedom is given to the maids that they can freely express their otaku-ness while working in the bar. :-p

So far, I know only one maid in this bar who can speak English, so you may not be able to enjoy this aspect if you could not speak Japanese. Although, they do have English menu, and it is a good maid bar to begin with, so I recommend you to visit this place if you have a chance. Indeed, you may encounter me here, since this is one of the two maid cafe/bar in Akihabara that I visit quite often.

To add to the information above, Wireless LAN is available for free at this place. Communication notebooks are available, but you need to ask maids to get hold of it. It is not popular to the point that some new maids don’t even know that they exist, so keep that in mind. :-p

Sorry!

Sorry for not updating this site for a while!!
If you let me make an excuse, I have been very busy with my new job lately. Although, I have not given up on updating this web site, so please please PLEASE do not stop checking it out!

Maid Station Cafe

Location: Tokyo : Akihabara : Denki-gai Area

Last Visited: August 2006

Following people should go:

- People who want to see high quality maid cafe.

- People who want to eat lunch/dinner.

Costume: classic French maid style / dark brown / mini skirt

Total Budget: 500 yen ~ 1500 yen

Service Charge: none

Time Limit: none

English Menu: ???

Stamp Card: not available

Communication Notebook: ???

CHEKI Photo Shooting: ???

Hours:

Monday: Closed

Tue~Fri: 12:00~22:00

Weekends & Holidays: 11:00~22:00

Web Site: http://blog.livedoor.jp/lovemaid/

Access:

map <- click!!

Exit from Denki-gai exit at the Akihabara Station, and head to north-west direction. It is the 4^th floor of the building where 1^st floor is a regular cafe, and 2^nd ~ 4^th floors are all maid cafes. There is a big sign saying “I love MAID” (with love being heart, just like I ‘love’ NEWYORK logo), which you cannot miss.

Comment:

Once you step in, you will be impressed by the sophisticated interior matched in white. The maid uniform is very cute but also classy. Indeed, I like their uniform the most out of all maid cafe uniforms.

What is unique about this cafe is that you need to take off your shoes and change in slippers. Also, it was very interesting to see a great selection of Japanese meals despite its western atmosphere. I have never eaten their food yet, but it seemed like serious meals for what is served in a cafe.

I highly recommend this place. It is closed on Monday, so be careful!! (It took me two attempts to figure this out. :-p )

@home saboh

Location: Tokyo : Akihabara : Denki-gai Area

Last Visited: August 2006

Following people should go:

- People who want to see unique maid cafe.

- People who like classic Japanese styles

- People who like classy atmosphere

Costume: Classic Japanese Maid Style (Kimono with Hakama)/pink

Total Budget: 1500 yen ~ 2000 yen

Service Charge:

Ume-no ma (counter seats) & Sakura-no ma (table seats): 300 yen

Matsu-no ma (small room): 500 yen

Time Limit: 90 minutes

English Menu: available

Stamp Card: not available

Communication Notebook: available only in Matsu-no ma (small room)

Check-it! Photo Shooting: available (I forgot the price…….)

Web Site: http://www.cafe-athome.com/saboh/

Access:

map

Exit from Denki-gai exit at the Akihabara Station, and head to north-west direction. It is located on the 5th floor of the building whose 1st floor is PC store called DOS-para. 4^th ~ 7^th floors are all maid-related, so it may be easy to locate. Also, they usually have a standing signboard on the street.

Comment:

This is one of the three cafes for @home group, the famous maid cafe franchise who even offers a dry cleaning service (!) When the word “moe” won “Ryuh-kou-go Taisho” (The annual award given to the popular words of the year), the maids from @home cafe showed up to the ceremony to receive the award.

Unlike the other two, @home saboh features Japanese style maids, who are dressed in Kimono and Hakama. They call male customers “Danna-sama” instead of “Goshujin-sama” (both means “master”, but I guess the first one is more Japanese…. (-_- ;; ). They are well trained, and it is impressing to hear their perfectly synchronized greeting, “Okaerinasaimase, Danna-sama/Ojou-sama!” (Welcome home, master/my lady!), when you arrive at the cafe. (It is not well synchronized when they are all busy, but please do not complain. The true gentleman/lady should be generous to his/her maids. ;-p)

The interior of the cafe is also quite Japanese, where they have three types of seats. “Ume-no ma” consists of counter seats surrounding tatami area, where maids work in. “Sakura-no ma” consists of table seats by the windows. “Matsu-no ma” is a small tatami room with low tables, where you get more opportunities to talk to maids and access to extra stuff, like communication notebook, comic strip drawn by maids, etc. Also, there is a small origami crane in Matsu-noma, which has a message from a maid when you open it up, and you can take it home as a souvenir. There are only two tables in “Matsu-no ma”, so it is difficult to get hold of them. You cannot move seats once you pick one. Also, you are required to pay 300 yen service charge for the first two types of seats, but 500 yen for the last one.

I personally like this cafe a lot, and recommend to many people when I am asked for a suggestion. I think it is due to its classy and calm atmosphere. The waitresses are quite professional, and interior is quite roomy and nice. I heard you get to hear a maid playing Taisho-goto (Type of Koto, Japanese horizontal harp) once a while, but I have never heard it yet. It is not usually crowded, probably since it is not a typical maid cafe. This place may not be good for people who want to go to a typical maid cafe, but if you are on tour to explore different maid cafes in Akihabara, I strongly recommend you to add this one to your list.

Cure Maid Cafe

Location: Tokyo : Akihabara : Denki-gai Area

Last Visited: August 2006

Following people should go:

- People who want to take a break after long expedition in Akihabara.

- People who want to see the very first maid café.

Costume: Classic English Maid Style/black/long skirt

Total Budget: 500 ~ 1000 yen

Service Charge: none

Time Limit: ??? minutes when cafe is crowded

English Menu: ???

Stamp Card: available

Communication Notebook: not available

Web Site: http://www.curemaid.jp/

Access:

map

Exit from Denki-gai exit at the Akihabara Station, and head to north-west direction. It is located on the 6th floor of the building whose 1st floor is filled with gacha-pon (capsule toys) machines. It is literally “filled”, thus you cannot miss it. Also, they usually have a large standing signboard saying “Cure Maid” right by the street.

Comment:

Cure Maid Cafe is the very first maid cafe in Japan. It originally evolved from Pia Carrot Restaurant, which was the cosplay cafe featuring waitresses dressed in the costumes from the famous dating simulation game series called “PiaCarrot-e Youkoso!! (Welcome to PiaCarrot)”. The game was about love romance in the family restaurant called Pia Carrot, where all waitresses were dressed in cute costumes. This cafe was open for the limited time only, when Japanese schools were in their vacation. It seems it opened three times before turning into Cure Maid Cafe, and once for PiaCarrot-e Youkoso!! 3 afterward. I think I’ve been to the original ones once or twice.

Pia Carrot Restaurant turned into Cafe de COSPA in year 2000. It was permanent cosplay cafe, where waitresses dressed in various costumes. I have been to this cafe once, but I did not like it for two reasons. The first reason was lack of unified theme: girls were dressed in random costumes, which appeared rather unsophisticated for me. The second reason was a type of regular customers. They were mostly camera-kozou (otaku who is dedicated to take pictures of girls like cosplayers and race queens), who was there forever and taking pictures. I felt uneasy being there due to them. Cafe de COSPA closed in 2001, and it turned into Cure Maid Cafe.

Cure Maid Cafe is one of the most professional maid cafes in my opinion. It may be a reaction to its experience back when it was Cafe de COSPA. All waitresses are dressed in a classic English maid costume, and their service is wonderful. The interior is very roomy, and there is no excessive “otaku” decorations like some other maid cafes. Photo shooting is prohibited, and you may not stay over a certain period time when it is crowded. Also, price of foods and drinks are reasonable, including liquors which only cost 500yen per glass. As name indicates, you can relax and “cure” your heart and soul here.

Although, if you expect very “otaku” maid cafe where maids play game with you and act anime-ish, this may not be the place to go. Beside the fact that the waitresses are dressed in the maid costumes, this place is just like a regular cafe.

If you are a tourist, you definitely should go here since it is the very first maid cafe. If you are Akihabara professional, I recommend you to use here as a resting area.

Why did I Start this Web Site Anyways?

The direct cause was the tourists from U.S. whom I met in the maid bar called “Merry Heart” in my first “expedition” in Akihabara after I graduated from the university in U.S. They told me how they could not find a good source of information in regard to the maid cafe on the Internet, thus they had a trouble locating other maid cafes in Akihabara. Also, the maid at the bar brought up to my attentions that some of Japanese web sites list maid cafe along with adult entertainments, which may mislead tourists to undesired places and get them into trouble.

I do not plan to make this web site into an ultimate guide for maid cafes in Japan, but I hope it will give enough information to help non-Japanese-speaking people to enjoy the maid cafes, and get people away from troubles. If you have any questions, I plan to add BBS to this web site, so feel free to post them there.

My History with Maid Cafe

My first encounter with “maid” was back in a high school, which was almost 7 years ago. It was a few years before the first maid cafe emerged in Akihabara. When I attended online chat for a dating simulation game, one of the members, whom I now respect as a ‘master’, told me how people were into “maid” and “family restaurants’ waitress” back then. I guess this encounter was a destiny. For some reason, I got very interested in those two categories. In a few hours, my computer was filled with CGs of characters in maid & waitress costumes.

Since I got so interested in waitresses, the master took me to the PiaCarrot Cafe. Since 90’s, there is a series of dating simulation games called “PiaCarrot e youkoso! (Welcome to PiaCarrot!)”. In these games, the player becomes a part-time worker for the family restaurant called PiaCarrot, and falls in love with its waitress. Cospa, the company who sells cosplay costumes and character goods, borrowed a dual space of Gamers, and turned it into a cafe with waitresses dressed in PiaCarrot costumes. It was open for a limited time only when the Japanese schools were in their summer break. I went to PiaCarrot 2 cafe, which turned out to be my first cosplay cafe experience. I remember how I had a hard time getting used to its atmosphere. I felt very shy to even place an order, not to mention when I asked them if I could take their pictures. At the same time, I was fascinated by the cafe, and I believe I ended up going there twice. Unfortunately, I could not visit PiaCarrot 3 cafe which opened a summer after due to a busy schedule.

Apparently, they were both popular enough, that they turned it into a permanent cosplay cafe. However, it was soon proven to be a mistake. I went to this cosplay cafe once, but it was terrible. The girls were dressed in various costumes without a unified concept or theme, that it appeared rather random and cheap. Also, many camera-kozo (otaku guys who are dedicated to take pictures of girls) stayed there forever without ordering much, which drove off other customers and probably did not leave much money to the cafe. Indeed, the cafe was soon closed down.

Despite the mistake, they did not give up. They reopened a new cafe called “Cure Maid Cafe”, the very first maid cafe in Japan. This time, they did not allow anyone to shoot photos inside the cafe. Also, customers were not allowed to stay beyond certain period of time when the cafe was clouded. They took some time for a sophisticated interior, and all waitresses were well trained and professional. I have been to this place several times since high school, but I think this is still one of the most professional maid cafe in Japan. Indeed, these efforts seemed to have paid off, that it still remains as a famous maid cafe in Akihabara.

After I graduated from the high school, I left Japan to study in the university in U.S. During these five years, a number of maid cafe increased rapidly. There was only Cure Maid Cafe when I left, but I think there is twenty or more maid cafes in Akihabara alone, not to mention a lot more spread all over Japan. I was visiting some of them whenever I came home to Tokyo, but I definitely could not cover all of them during such a short visit.

I felt ashamed for not knowing most of these maid cafes despite the fact I am maid-loving otaku. That is why I decided to assemble a team (usually my friend and I) to visit many of them after I graduated from the university and came back to Tokyo. By now, I think I covered more than a half of maid cafes in Akihabara, and others in Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, and other parts of Japan.

So, I think now you know how I’ve seen the birth of the first maid cafe, but how I was left behind during a period when the number of maid cafe increased. I am nothing compared to some of other hard core maid cafe fans, but I hope I am good enough to report about them to non-Japanese speaking populations in the world. Please remember that reports that I will post on this web site will be my personal opinions, and not “a word of the god”. ;-p Anyways, I will explain the reason why I started this web site on my next post!