Maid cafes are popular in Japan

Maids are a popular character in manga and anime, the Japanese words for comics and animation videos. Often, a shy-adolescent male will meet a beautiful maid and through interactions with her, the young boy will triumph over his shortcomings, gain maturity of character, and win the heart of the maid.



Sometime around 2001 or 2002, coffeeshops in Akihabara (Akiba), the electronics district of Tokyo, began offering service staff dressed as characters from popular video games, manga, and anime. The waitress as a maid became so popular with customers that soon after, cafes opened featuring maid characters exclusively as staff.



The maids play their role by addressing the customer with titles such as lord, lady, master, or mistress. They will stir the sugar into your coffee and draw pictures using ketchup on top of your omelet. The cafes feature lunch and dinner menus along with coffee and tea service. The cafes serve freshly prepared meals and many make their own pastries on site.



Since 2004, maid cafes have branched out to include other services. You can get haircuts, fully-clothed massages, and manicures by staff dressed as maids; you can even rent a maid for a private conversation in a room, within the cafe, filled with manga and anime DVDs.



The price of a cup of coffee at a maid cafe? It fluctuates between places but be prepared to pay approximately 5.00 to 7.00 usd and don't expect it to be a large cup...