I must admit Nagoya is a new frontier for a maid cafe. Maileaf that I wrote in my previous post is not the only great cafe that was born in Nagoya in last few years. MILKY POT is another one. It is cozy, tiny cafe with a counter and sofa, but with a sophisticated classical atmosphere and great coffee.
A few blocks north from Osu area where all other maid cafes gather, MILKY POT is located on 6th floor of tiny building. You'll be surprised how tiny the cafe is. I don't think more than 10 people can be in that cafe including maids. However, the size helps cafe to build up cozy atmosphere. Two cute maids are inside the bar counter welcoming you and you can enjoy having a chat with them. Usually, counter style cafes are more geared toward so-called "Maid Cafe" style (I call them Akihabara-style), but this cafe maintains classical atmosphere. They are dressed in calm black & white classical style maid outfits, and will prepare & serve freshly-ground coffee in front of you. Behind wooden hinged doors, there is a record player playing game music performed by orchestra.
Everything is quiet and calm, yet funny and entertaining also. Maids are all unique. I remember one elder maid told younger maid to saute onions for hamburger, but the younger one completely ruined it by overcooking it. The elder one panicked and scolding the younger one first, but she soon started apologizing for not giving a right cooking utensils. It was funny how she shifted from scolding to apologizing. On another day, I saw a maid who was always goofing up. who was with another maid who wore glasses and completely appeared mature to me. However, the mature one told me with sigh how she is the one who is goofy back in her home town, but she needs to behave mature since her colleague is too goofy. Again, it was funny how she said that.
I believe maid cafes are definitely shifting from a craze to culture, and Nagoya is definitely playing an important role for this culture to grow. If you are otaku who is passing by Nagoya, make sure you stop by and experience some of the latest and greatest form of maid cafes in the world.
MILKY POT
http://www.milkypot.com/
MAP
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Maileaf: Legitimate Successor of Maid Cafes
More
than 10 years have passed since the first maid cafe was born in
Akihabara... Maid cafe enthusiasts around me says that a maid cafe
is no longer a craze but has reached a realm of culture.... If you
see various maid cafes from cultural standpoint, you see unique or
sometime unexpected lineage between them. Yes, maid cafes are not
randomly generated entities, but rather evolving into new forms as
new cafes open. I believe Maileaf, which is a young maid cafe that
has been open only for an year or so, can be entitled as a legitimate
successor of maid cafes.
Maileaf
is located in Osu, close to Nagoya which is a capital of Aichi
prefecture. Yes, it is not in Akihabara, or even in Tokyo.
Akihabara is where the fist maid cafe was born. Ikebukuro is also
famous for maid and butler cafes. Some of you might know
Nippon-bashi in Osaka, which is another famous otaku district in
west. Why Osu? Well, Osu is actually another relatively large otaku
district in Japan. Located in between Tokyo and Osaka, it is
building up its unique otaku culture. It is recently gaining
popularity by international cosplay summit which takes place in
summer. Also, Osu has played an important role in a history of maid
cafes. According to what I heard from other maid cafe enthusiasts,
“Okaerinasaimase Goshujin-sama”, or “Welcome back, my master.”
which is the most popular and widely used greeting in maid cafes, was
first used in M's Melody, the oldest maid cafe in Osu.
So,
why do I call Maileaf as a legitimate successor of maid cafes? Well,
this cafe has ALL. It is basically a classical style maid cafe,
green but long skirt maid outfit with calm interiors. Wide variety
of tea selections and excellent sweets. Excellent for classical maid
lovers who enjoy calm environment. Well, then those of you who
smokes and enjoys alcohol shall not go here? No. There is a smoking
area upstairs where there is a bar counter and there is a maid
working inside the counter. Yes, this cafe has both characteristics
of classical maid cafes and moe-style maid cafes. You can enjoy tea
and sweets like in classical maid cafes, but also enjoy alcohol and
have chat and take pictures with maids like moe-style maid cafes.
Usually, it is difficult to combine both characteristics into one
cafe, but this cafe has succeeded to combine them under excellent
balance.
How
was it possible? As far as I know, one of the “keepers” (4 head
maids are called “house keepers”) who was also a founding member
of this cafe, was a HARDCORE MAID CAFE ENTHUSIAST. Worked as a maid
herself, she has gone to not only Osu maid cafes, but also to the
maid cafes in Nipponbashi and Akihabara. With her counterparts, she
wanted to combine good parts of different maid cafes into this new
maid cafe. So far, I should say they have COMPLETELY SUCCEEDED.
Maileaf is now the most evolved maid cafe that has combined blood of
various maid cafes in three otaku districts in Japan.
If
you are over in Japan and passing by Nagoya, I highly recommend you
to stop by Osu and visit Maileaf and other maid cafes. It is a
definitely new frontier for maid cafes....you might encounter another
new evolution of maid cafe culture.
Maileaf
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
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
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
Wednesday, July 04, 2012
JAM AKIHABARA: They'll be back.
In my last article, I mentioned that JAM AKIHABARA is going to close. Indeed, they closed on 6/17. Good news is..... they'll be back!
On their official twitter account, they announced that there is a new owner who is willing to take over the tradition of JAM AKIHABARA. On the day the announcement was made, twitter was flooded by the hash tag "#JAMが大好きだ" or "I love JAM". I can only imagine how joyful news it was for all JAM regulars known as JAM-min (JAM-tribe).
Let's look forward to the rebirth of JAM. I cannot wait to write another article about JAM. Probably the title will be "JAM AKIHABARA: Rebirth of the Monumental Cafe" ;-p
On their official twitter account, they announced that there is a new owner who is willing to take over the tradition of JAM AKIHABARA. On the day the announcement was made, twitter was flooded by the hash tag "#JAMが大好きだ" or "I love JAM". I can only imagine how joyful news it was for all JAM regulars known as JAM-min (JAM-tribe).
Let's look forward to the rebirth of JAM. I cannot wait to write another article about JAM. Probably the title will be "JAM AKIHABARA: Rebirth of the Monumental Cafe" ;-p
JAM AKIHABARA
Monday, June 04, 2012
JAM AKIHABARA: End of the Monumental Cafe
In
my room, there are maid figures from “Maid Cafe Collection”. It
is a series of character figures which was released in year 2006, and
these characters are wearing the uniforms of the maid cafes that
actually existed back then. One of them is JAM Akihabara. It is one
of the older maid cafes that existed since 2004. If you know
Akihabara maid cafes well, you should have heard about it at least
once. It is one of the historical maid cafe that surely has
contributed to the maid cafe culture.
What
makes JAM Akihabara unique? I think the answer is its regulars.
There are regular customers who call themselves JAM-min or
“JAM-tribe”. They are very close to each other, and they hang
out even outside the cafe. They have tight bond, yet they do not
build up the unwelcoming atmosphere to the newcomers, thus you will
not feel exiled even if you are not part of the tribe. As a maid fan
who believes one of the important function of the maid cafe is
hang-out place of otakus yet it is important not to build up the
atmosphere that is tough for newcomers to come in, I think JAM
Akihabara was one of the ideal case of the maid cafe.
JAM
was also very “handy”. The price was reasonable, and it is open
until 5AM before weekends. If you feel like you want to stop by
somewhere to have a glass of beer, JAM was always the place to go.
Unfortunately,
the place is closing down mid of this month. I can only imagine how
heart-broken Jam-mins were. When the announcement was made, twitter
was filled with the memories of JAM. I am also one of “Schatzers”
or regular customers of Schatzkiste, and I am certain how shocked I
will be if I loose Schatzkiste.
Until
the day it close, I am sure the place will be filled with JAM-mins
and maid cafe enthusiasts. However, if you are in Japan and have a
chance to stop by Akihabara, I highly recommend you to stop by this
place, and remember one of the greatest historical monument of the
maid cafe culture.
JAM AKIHABARA
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
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
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
Monday, April 23, 2012
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
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
Monday, March 26, 2012
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/
MAP
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/
MAP
Friday, March 23, 2012
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
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
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
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
MAP
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
MAP
Thursday, March 01, 2012
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
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
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
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/
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/
Monday, February 27, 2012
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 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!
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!
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Milkey Maid Parlour
Location:
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:
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:
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
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.
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Merry Heart
Location:
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!
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!
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