Increasingly otaku culture encompassing everything from anime to Miku Hatsune to cosplay is becoming Japan’s mainstream culture, at least among anyone with an Internet connection and a Pixiv account. It’s always fun when companies get into the spirit of things, like when the Akihabara KFC dressed their Colonel Sanders statue in a maid’s costume, or when Microsoft commissioned an official anime character mascot for Windows 7. Now Hewlett-Packard is getting into the game, with its new “Maid In Tokyo” campaign featuring girls from the kawaii idol group “Idoling!!!” who give customers a maid cafe experience right in their web browser. Answer the correct quiz about HP’s products and the girls will make desktop wallpaper featuring a picture of a pancake with your name written in chocolate sauce, just like they do in Akihabara.
HP is embracing otaku culture with its “Maid in Tokyo” campaign.
