The next time you’re in Japan, I suggest you check out the maid cafes that can be found mostly around Akihabara, the center for all things related to electronics, anime and fun geeky cosplay culture. I went with some friends last weekend and we had a great experience. In addition to regular menu items like curry rice, pasta and “hamberg steak,” the menu lets you choose different “performances” by the maids, who will do things like blow on your food and feed it to you like a baby, or play a game of darts with you. I opted to have one of the maids draw Doraemon on my Om-Rice (an omelette eaten over flavored rice, it’s heavenly) in ketchup, while a friend in our group challenged one of the maids to a drinking contest: if he could down his mug of beer faster than she could finish her iced tea, he’d get to take a picture with her, but if she won, she’d get to slap him hard across the face. He lost, and it was great fun to see him endure the slap by the pretty maid (what the hell, there are worse things that could happen to a guy). Another feature you can find in some of these maid cafes are special cosplay events in which the staff will dress up as characters from your favorite anime, like a Cat Girl Cafe where all the girls will transform into”wolf girls” for one week only, to allow customers with an obsession for girls with furry ears and bushy tails to get some special attention.
