Tokyo Maid Cafes: Where Cute Japanese Girls Slap & Spoon-Feed Customers (PHOTOS)

At a Japanese maid cafe, customers pay good money to be pampered by cute, young girls in frilly costumes.

The role-play goes pretty far. Waitresses will get on hand and knees to take orders from "Master." Some even offer ear-cleaning and spoon-feeding. *SEE PHOTOS BELOW*

There are dozens of cosplay cafes in Tokyo's Akihabara district. On weekends, lonely boys line up for a plate of ketchup-rice decorated by their favorite maid.

These eateries are an odd but harmless fantasy -- a space where nerdy "otaku" can get attention from anime and manga heroines. Some develop warm "moe" crushes on their favorite maid. For a few hundred yen, customers can buy decorated Polaroids, or capsule toys from "gashapon" machines.

Japanese maids are elusive creatures. Most of these cafes ban photography, since they cash in by selling photos of the girls. Try to take a photo of a maid handing out flyers in the street, and she'll cover her face and walk away.

However, I've had special access: I often bring TV shows to maid cafes, and photographed several for my Crazy Wacky Theme Restaurants: Tokyo book.

Here's a selection of my photos from various Japanese maid cafes. Which girl would you like to play rock-paper-scissors with?

Melty Cure
3F, 4-6-2 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Nearest station: Akihabara or Suehirocho
Open: Mon-Fri (1-9pm), Sat-Sun (12-10pm)
Tel: [phone]

MIA Cafe
Riverside Seven Bldg. 3F, 2-7-9, Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Nearest station: Akihabara or Suehirocho
Open: Mon-Fri (12-10pm), Sat-Sun (11am-10pm)
Tel: [phone]

Cafe Mai:lish
FH Kyowa Square Bldg. 2F, 3-6-2 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Nearest station: Akihabara or Suehirocho
Open: Daily (11am-10pm)
Tel: [phone]

Cos-Cha Cafe
Isamiya Dai 8 Bldg. 2F, 3-7-12, Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Nearest station: Akihabara or Suehirocho
Open: Daily (5-10pm)
Tel: [phone]

 

 

 

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Comments

[idolexcom]

07:58 PM on 04/04/2011

Akihabara, a unique place since 1951!

[chi01]

11:25 AM on 03/08/2011

This is old news, i was in Japan 5 years ago and this was already in full swing.

[LonosCurse]

04:25 PM on 03/07/2011

Check out the one on the right. Michael Jackson lives!!

[DocEagle]

12:35 PM on 03/07/2011

Bunnies are cuddly.

[cyberfringe]

10:07 PM on 03/06/2011

I live in Tokyo at the moment and always enjoy seeing the maids in Akihabara out on the streets and all the other cos-play participants, particularly in the Harujuku area near Omotesando. I went to a maid cafe once, purely by accident because I was shopping, hungry and suddenly this cute girl dressed like a french maid pulled me into a doorway. It was great fun and I laughed a lot. With the maids, cos-play, high fashion, and carefully managed "punk", "doll", and other styles, the Japanese have found a unique form of self-expression and unlike many other topics they are quite uninhibited about it.

[SilentSolidarity]

08:04 PM on 03/06/2011

At least you don't have to give them ridiculous tips like in the US. Sheesh..

[Sean 6399]

05:07 PM on 03/06/2011

I love the names of these whack japanese establishments.

Melty cure?

WTF? I love it!

[cyberfringe]

10:09 PM on 03/06/2011

There are so fun names like this in Japan. It is endlessly entertaining. One of my favorites is "Happy Burger" which is fun and also very descriptive!

[NostradamnIsuck]

05:04 PM on 03/06/2011

Harmless fantasy
Helps average food become
Dining ecstasy

[robin360]

04:45 PM on 03/07/2011

Nice Haiku!

[yappnmutt]

03:41 PM on 03/06/2011

growing up in japan and visiting relatives since the japanese interpretation of western culture through the years seems to have finally broken through to a genuine japanese experience that may look western but is decidedly japanese. this role playing by both the maids(and other characters) and th epatrons is just cool and a live melding of fantasy/reality. i don't think the average american can see this as good, clean fun because anything like this in the usa is not.

[cyberfringe]

10:12 PM on 03/06/2011

It's too bad we can't because it is fun and causes people not to take themselves too seriously. That said, Japanese girls are seriously cute in maid outfits in a way that the average American could never hope to be.

[jusathot]

12:21 AM on 03/07/2011

Why is it that some people cannot compliment one type of woman without putting down another? Why are you comparing these modern day teenaged Geishas with the average American woman?
Of course, if it is because they look like little girls? If you went to any American High School you could find cuties too.

[deepintheheartoftejas]

03:02 PM on 03/06/2011

Eh, totally not for me. But those Tokyo cafes where you pay to pet incredibly cute cats, I'd be all over that!

[Mr-Mikey]

01:55 PM on 03/06/2011

To be honest, these cafes offer a bit of intrigue for me. If I had had spare time last year when I flew through Japan, I would probably have gone to one.

It isn't only because I have a healthy fantasy, its because it is is part of the ever evolving and changing social culture of a society that these things exist. They push a social limit, a social limit that is fairly strict here in the United States. We have these things as "Social Taboo's" which sometimes double for "Religious prude inserting their morality into my lives where it is very unappreciated."

It makes it so, if you truly want something evocative from a performance you have to travel great distances to a Gambling hub to see something. Our society is too repressive of expression, whether physical or emotional... An our country has a rule enabling us free speech. (Go Figure).

It is truly sad, in my area a few years back they shut down once of the last theatre's to run shows like "Rocky Horror Picture Show". The reason being is student actors would come to act along with the screen, and interact with the people (One of the true pleasures of actually witnessing that show in a theatre).

Perhaps what I'm trying to say, is I am weary of seeing these things only in a fictional setting.. Having a realistic place to visit, for novelties sake... For the experience of it, isn't wrong.

[La Carmina]

02:03 PM on 03/06/2011

That's why I'm so intrigued by theme restaurants. In addition to maid cafes, there's fantasy dining for Alice in Wonderland, vampire, ninja, prison and more. The diners get into the act, and it's a terrific experience.

[Husaria]

12:54 PM on 03/06/2011

Japanese version of ' hooters '

[jusathot]

12:23 AM on 03/07/2011

hello.

[notmzbehavin]

12:43 PM on 03/06/2011

I've never been to Japan, but extrapolating from what I've read, the Japanese know how to take this type of fun right to, but not fall over, the edge. FYI, I'm referring to the lifestyle flavors that some of the cafes hint at. Not that the Japanese don't also know how to fall over the edge...but when they do, they often do it with style and dedication. (Shibari ring a bell?)

To those addressing the seemingly anti-feminist aspects of this type of entertainment, I'd like to point out that as a woman, the movement gave me the freedom to choose what lifestyle I want to live, and the right to express that lifestyle within the laws of my society.

I think these cafes are harmless fun, personally. I'd probably never go but would send my s/o there in a heartbeat; he'd be amused.

By the way, am I the most naive person in the world to think that simply because a place also offers massages, that that isn't code for prostitution? I donno.

[La Carmina]

01:29 PM on 03/06/2011

Exactly - not all massage parlors have something sketchy going on behind the curtain. I'm quite sure this particular one keeps its nose clean. Can't say the same for some of the parlors in Kabuki-cho, haha...

[cyberfringe]

10:18 PM on 03/06/2011

Shibari may or may not (knot?) be over the edge. It is an ancient cultural form in Japan that has great symbolism, style, form and artistry. It is also overtly sexual in a way that you don't see openly in Japan. Unfortunately, it seems rare that gaikokujin (non-Japanese) get to witness true Shibari artistry.

[notmzbehavin]

12:13 AM on 03/07/2011

I agree. I was lucky in that I met a western practitioner who is dedicated to "Nawa-aikido" etc. I believe (not sure, it's been a few years and can't contact the person immediately to find out for validating this for the post) that he had some training in Japan. It wouldn't surprise me if he had. But he's rare in the US.

[Balzac]

11:12 AM on 03/06/2011

The French maid uniforms are nice, but don't forget about the Catholic school girl uniforms.

[La Carmina]

01:30 PM on 03/06/2011

There was a Schoolboy cafe in Harajuku, where the waiters dressed as young boarding school boys. Sadly, it closed down. Here are some photos; I took Andrew Zimmern's tv show there - http://www.lacarmina.com/blog/2009/10/cosplaying-at-edelstein-schoolboy-cafe-in-harajuku-andrew-zimmerns-bizarre-world-travel-tv-show-sexy-japanese-schoolgirl/

[Mr-Mikey]

01:59 PM on 03/06/2011

I probably would have enjoyed viiting that one as well, for the shock and outrage it would generate amongst my friends. ME.. a Guy.. In a Schoolboy cafe.

Probably would have been great fun.

[Balzac]

02:27 PM on 03/06/2011

I'm glad it closed down.

[one1byke]

06:31 AM on 03/06/2011

Ahhh... the Japanese have a few Westerners showing them the way.