With the Flying Czechman in town for a few days and looking for the latest and greatest in weird Japanese pop-culture we went to a Maid Café.

A product of the otaku cosplay scene, maid cafes are restaurants where the staff dress as (manga fantasy versions of) French maids and treat the customers as masters returning to their private homes. Akihabara is home to over sixty maid cafés, as well as a few butler cafes. Welcome back home, Master.

I have to say I was disappointed. Since the point is to feel like the master of a wealthy estate, I pictured heavy carpets, comfortable slippers, a dark red velvet smoking jacket, and arm chairs. That may have been completely overblown expectations (hell, I even shaved and dressed up a bit for the occasion), but considering the amount of detail that goes into other theme restaurants such as the Alcatraz in Shibuya (fashioned after a mental hospital/prison ward, guests get to sit in cells, and the staff are dressed as nurses and doctors), or even Hard Rock Cafe or TGI Friday's the very bare-bones cafeteria that it turned out to be was quite a let-down. Even the New Year decoration on the wall kept falling down.

(Lack of) interior design aside, Wikipedia claims that although exemplary customer service is typical of Japan, maid cafés take special care to pamper patrons. No one was prepared to take our coats, though.

Speaking of patrons, they were a mixed lot, we were not the only foreigners (there was even a non-Japanese, but still non-French, maid), and Cissy was not the only female, either. The menu was okay for a cafe in Akihabara I guess (we had cake), but most certainly not the base upon which their business was built. Picture-taking was strictly forbidden, except for having the maids take polaroids, on which they would then also scribble something cute. That would have been an extra 500 yen, as would have been a game of cards or rock-paper-scissors.

We received membership cards (Licenses of Majesty, Level One: My Master -- a few dozen more visits would promote us to Glorious Masters), but if there is a next time, we definitely have to find a more upscale establishment.