(The above photo was taken in Ikebukuro not Akihabara but you get the idea.) Akihabara is well known for these maid cafes. They are unlike anything in the world. In some maid cafes there is a show with song and dance. Other maid cafes, the women get on their knees to serve you calling you "master" or "mistress" or sometimes "princess." If you come to Japan as a tourist, I recommend checking out the anomaly that is the maid cafe. Fear not ladies, there are even butler cafes where your eye candy is of the male persuasion.
Obviously, I am not a tourist in Japan. So when my friend said he wanted to take me to a maid cafe, I cringed. Foreigners who live here do not go to maid cafes, I thought, especially girls! He led me off Chuo-dori, one of the main streets of Akihabara, down a street with hardly any people, a rarity in Akihabara! When we entered, the place looked like a library. Another major difference were the maids. They were, of course, unbelievably cute but they weren't dressed like the above maid. They were dressed in Victorian maid garb (as a vintage lover you can imagine how happy this made me). You can google Victorian maids because you're not allowed to take pictures in maid cafes so the few I got were done stealth style and unfortunately none of the girls.
Here is the interior:
I had some chiffon cake which I wish had been sweeter:
And all you can drink tea:
I bet you want to know what this place is called. Well you can forget it! A very nice Japanese man at the cafe told me: "There are two kinds of maid cafes. Maid cafes for tourists and maid cafes for locals. This one is for locals." If you are a tourist, go to the maid cafe for tourists because you want that experience because it makes a great story to tell. The first maid cafe I went to was for tourists. If you live here feel free to search for it and if you come visit me, I'll certainly take you there.
I hope you're having a nice weekend. I'm enjoying a lazy Sunday drinking tea and listening to the rain.
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