Maid Runner

Maid Photos

2010-08-10T19:16:00.001-07:00

Maid Runner has been actively visiting and reviewing maid cafes in and around Akihabara for over a year. Other than a few bars that don't open until I have to be at work at night, and some reflex shops that I consider overpriced and have no interest in, there's really nothing left to visit in Akihabara that is maid-related. At the moment. New cafes are constantly opening, and there are a few that I've developed an attachment to that may have events worth writing up in the future. So, Maid Runner won't completely shut down. Let's just say "under renewal".

If you have suggestions for places to visit, add them in a comment to this post, or drop me an email.

Maids Point Cards

2010-08-09T18:51:00.001-07:00

One year's worth of members, and points, cards. Ah, the memories.

Maid Misc.

2010-08-08T19:59:00.000-07:00

Over the course of a year, it's easy to pick up stuff from the various maid cafes. This is what I've gotten that doesn't include regular maid photos and members/points cards.

Review: Nagomi Style-cafe

2010-08-05T17:51:00.000-07:00

Nagomi Style.cafe isn't actually a maid cafe. In fact, it's not technically a cafe. Instead, it's an internet cafe, which means that it's made up of a selection of small cubicles that you can sit in and play video games, watch movies on DVD or read manga on an hourly basis. There is a selection of chips for sale at the register, and a free unlimited soft drink bar in the back. You can even get gelato, if you want.

What sets NS.c off from other net cafes is the "nagomi-style" part. What this means is that the female staff wear kimono, and that the decor is designed to resemble an Edo-era house with garden. Soft music plays in the background, and you do the traditional "off with the shoes" thing.

Otherwise, NS.c is pretty much like other net cafes. Lately, because of problems of hackers working out of the net cafes, most places require that you show ID when you first sign up. For foreigners, this can either be a passport, or an alien registration card. You fill in the membership form (English is ok), and then you follow the staff member into the main cafe area. You take your shoes off at the entrance, and put them in a carry bag with you. You can choose smoking and non-smoking cubicles, and either western style chairs or sitting on tatami mat floors. You have your pick of the thousands of manga and magazines on the walls, the DVDs or the video games. Each cube has a PC, lamp, trash bin and phone. Any games or books you take out can just be left on the stack next to the drink machines for the staff to put away later.

As for the drink machines, you have your choice of hot or cold coffee and tea, grape and grapefruit juices, and a variety of sodas. There's even flavored syrups for the ice coffee. The snacks are a bit overpriced, but not that bad (think of the big snack boxes you find at the movie theaters, for 200 yen each). The best part though is that the price for staying at the cafe is just 300 yen ($3.50 USD) for 30 minutes. Granted, that's not a whole lot of time for playing, say, Monster Hunter or Bayonetta, but it is a cheap way to get a few glasses of Coke and tear through the complete set of Yaiba.

Ns.c is about 5 minute's walk north of Akihabara station, on the northwest corner of Chuu-ou Dori and Kuramaebashi Dori, in the basement of the building on the corner.

Recommended. No maid photos though. Sorry.

Summary:
Name: Nagomi Style.cafe
Location: About 5 minute's walk north of Akihabara station, on the northwest corner of Chuu-ou Dori and Kuramaebashi Dori, in the basement of the building on the corner.
Price: Cheap.
Cover: 300 lets you stay 30 minutes.
Food: Just packages of snack crackers, chocolate and gelato.
"Love": No love.
Outfits: Kimono.
Photos: No photos
Wireless Internet: Yup.
Specialties: A net cafe with a very relaxing atmosphere.
Recommendation: If you're looking for a cheap way to kill a couple of hours reading manga or playing games within the Akihabara district, NS.c is highly recommended.

Cleaning up the cafe

2010-08-02T17:57:00.000-07:00

I started Maid Runner in 2009 initially as a way to change the public perception of maid cafes, and to record my experiences in them. As the blog turned into more of a review site, I was hoping to make it profitable by getting some kind of tie-in to one or more of the cafes, or at the least hosting some advertising. Unfortunately, that never panned out. And now, after 50+ reviews, I'm getting a little burned out. I'm also running out of new cafes in the Akiba district to visit.

I haven't really concentrated on maid bars, primarily because they don't open until after 6 PM, and I have to start working at 6:30. And, I don't get out of work until 11 PM weekday nights, which is about when my last train is running for going home. Basically, my work schedule doesn't fit visiting maid bars.

Places that I'm not going to visit in the near future are:

Bars:
basicBar bB
Delusion
Goodrock-Maid:Style
Zoid Maid:Style
Kaen
Chai-maru
Little BSD
Little PSX
Dear Stage
Rea Uta

Mahjong Parlors (I don't play mahjong):
TeMpane
Welcome

Boys Love:
Miracle Jump

A brief comment on this last entry, Miracle Jump. In Japan, there is a line of manga aimed at women, called "boys love", which is essentially guy-on-guy comics. Miracle Jump is a cafe based on the boys love concept (although, to be honest, half of the human cast are women dressed up in drag). The "cast" is divided up into "2D" (manga characters) and "3D" (the human servers). Worth checking out if you like this kind of thing.

Review: Granvania

2010-07-29T19:43:00.000-07:00

I visited Granvania about a year ago. At the time, it was a regular restaurant that took up most of the second floor of a building making up part of the radio land section of Akihabara. No maids, and the cup of coffee I'd gotten was still 600 yen (which is $6 USD for one coffee, no refills). It wasn't a bad place, but being on the high side and not having much else to recommend it I wasn't planning on going back. But, I kept seeing the name on the "moe" and "Akiba guide" maps, and I was wondering why it was being included in with @Home and Mai Dreamin' as a moe spot. Then, when I was talking to a customer at Seiyu no Tamago (Voice Actress Egg), he also mentioned Granvania as a possible maid cafe spot for me to visit.

So, I decided to drop by on my way to work a few nights ago, just to check it out. Looking in through the window, I saw "maids!" Therefore, I made it a point to come back when I had more time for actually sitting down and ordering something.

Granvania was "repurposed" as a maid cafe in 2009, but with a twist. To find it, take the north Electric Town exit from the JR Akihabara station, and face the UDX building. You should see the Gundam Cafe ahead and to your right. Turn left and head towards Chuu-ou Dori. About 50 feet before you get to Chuu-ou, you should see a small doorway leading into the building on your left, mixed in with the little electronics shops. Take the stairs up and you'll find yourself in front of a wooden door to the cafe.

The cafe itself is big and sprawling, able to seat at least 100 people at the old dark wooden tables and counters. There's an European beer garden feel to the place, with the green walls and wooden molding and beams. Signs on the walls advertise food specials and weekly events. For the first half of the week, it was "princess night", when the maids wore princess outfits; the second half was "free-style cosplay". When I arrived, the maids had on big, puffy pink and white dresses, with variations on the tiara theme for headpieces. At the front of the cafe, there are some video games, primarily electronic darts. And, there's various stuffed UFO Catcher dolls and anime figurines all over the place.

Granvania has a full meal menu, with salads, main dishes and desserts. Pricing is in"G"s instead of yen, with entrees like garlic chicken and curry rice for 500-850G. Soft drinks for 500-700 G, and desserts for 480-600 G. Mixed drinks for 400-500 G. And dessert and entree sets (orders include one drink) are around 800 yen. I ordered an ice coffee and a slice of chocolate cake, and my total bill came to only 800 yen. So, $9 USD for the night was really cheap compared to just about everywhere else I've been to over the last year.

There's the standard "welcome home master" and "the master is leaving" chants, and writing on the food in catsup. No added flavor chants. When the coffee arrived I was asked if I wanted cream and sugar, but instead of giving me the little plastic servings, the maid gave me decent sized pitchers of syrup and cream. The coffee was good and strong, and the chocolate cake was a medium-sized slice of sponge cake with frosting in the middle and a thin chocolate shell on top. The cake was also very good, and fancier than what other cafes offer. For 800 yen at Tokyo prices, Granvania was definitely a good value.

There's no maid photos on the menu, and this is where the "twist" comes in. There are two kinds of points cards. The first is a regular card - 1 point per 500 yen, and a full card at 50 points gets you a maid photo. 3 or 5 full cards gets you branded items. The second kind is a members card that you buy for 300 yen. You then get points for completing various missions, where the missions can actually end up costing you points if you're not careful. This is much like a video game, and the prizes for filling up the members cards are much better, including more maid photos and branded goods items.

(Regular points card)

The place was quite busy while I was there, with about 20 people at any one time. The staff don't have time to stand and chat, but they do speak some English and there is an English menu and rules card. The customers were about 5-1 men to women, but a fair number of women were coming in on their own to eat. The food that other people ordered looked pretty good, and since it's not that expensive, I'm tempted to make this one of my regular eating spots.

Simply on a value-for-the-price rating, Granvania gets an A. They also have various anime and game tie-in events during the month, so check the online calendar in advance. Recommended.

Summary:
Name: Granvania
Location: Take the north Electric Town exit from the JR Akihabara station, and face the UDX building. You should see the Gundam Cafe ahead and to your right. Turn left and head towards Chuu-ou Dori. About 50 feet before you get to Chuu-ou, you should see a small doorway leading into the building on your left.
Price: Reasonable.
Cover: 300 lets you stay 1 hour after 6 PM.
Food: A wide range of entrees, salads, desserts and drinks. In general, things are in the 400-800 yen range across the board.
"Love": Writing on the food in catsup, "welcome home master" and "the master is leaving" chants.
Outfits: The website shows a black dress over a white blouse, but various cosplay nights means that there's no consistent outfit all the time.
Photos: Only if you fill up the points cards.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: A regular restaurant-style menu, electronics darts games, and video game-style "missions" for those that have the members card.
Recommendation: The food's good, the prices are reasonable, and the "missions" might be fun. Highly recommended.

Links to other websites from other websites

2010-07-26T18:38:00.000-07:00

When you're done visiting a specific maid cafe in person, you can go on to visit their website. Occasionally, there are interesting things on the site that are worth checking out further. At a minimum, this is one way to learn about stores that don't advertise in the paper magazines, or only exist online. And at best, it's a way to discover PC games that you can play that are maid-oriented. What follows is a list of links I've accumulated by visiting the links pages of all the cafes I have URLs for. Of course, they're all pretty much only in Japanese but you can still look at the pictures.

Review and Events Pages

Boku no Akiba
G Para
Hagemaru Maid Link
Maid Cafe Maniax
Maid Cafe Times
Maid Kisaten Myahoo
Maid Kiss
Maid Kissa Journal
Maid ni Naru
Maid no Nikki
Maid Telephone book
Maiku Diary
Moeten Info
Moe Pota
MoExplorer

Maps

Akiba Map Info
Akiba TV
Otamap

Cosplay Supplies

Cospa
M.I.A Costume
Reticule

Misc

Circus

Maid Cafe (not in Akihabara)

Romeo + Giulietta

Maid Games

Melty Cure Games Page
Hiyokoya Game

Review: Ichigo Milk

2010-07-22T18:58:00.000-07:00

I'm a big manga fan, and currently I'm reading really old back issues of a magazine that initially came out in 1964, Garo. It's pretty easy to pick up copies at the Mandarake store in Akihabara, and they have pretty much the full collection, but there are gaps. I wanted to try to find some of the missing issues at the location in the Broadway shopping complex in Nakano, but it turned out that they had maybe a quarter of what Akihabara did. On the other hand, I did discover a maid reflex shop on the top floor of the Broadway building, past the Mandarake shops, near the back, if you're in need of maids giving you a foot massage in Nakano (Nakano is the first major stop on the Chuu-ou Rapid line heading west from Shinjuku).

So I tried going to the Shibuya location, where I discovered that they had even fewer magazines than Nakano did (almost none at all). But, along the way I noticed a sign for a maid cafe, called Ichigo Milk (Strawberry Milk). I was initially thinking that I was running behind schedule and I'd just blow it off for that day, but having come up empty at Mandarake, I changed my mind and went into the building to try to commiserate. That's when I found out that it's really easy to take the wrong elevator and end up dumped in front of a yoga studio.

Ichigo Milk is about 5 minutes northwest of Shibuya station, near the Parco department stores. It's a little tricky to find so you're better off following the map on their site. When you get to the sign on the street, you'll be faced with two entrances, one on each side of the sign. Pick the one on the right, and check for the signs in the elevator to ensure you're in the correct one. It's on the 8th floor. The cafe is pretty small, and if you want to smoke you have to do it outside in front of the elevator.

Ichigo opened in May, so it's still fairly new. The website looks like it's fully up and running, but they don't have scheduled events yet (not including the Tanabata event on July 7). For the most part, this cafe is like a transplanted version of Mai Dreamin'. The cash register is in an alcove on the left, and the restroom and kitchen are behind it. The main cafe space is straight ahead and to the right. There's a tiny pie-shaped stage right in front of the register which is used for the maid photos. The seating is then raised to look down on the stage. The first tier is a short counter with cushioned stools for seating 4 people, another tier with another counter for 6 more people, and then a final tier with a bench running along the back walls for 6-8 more people. When I arrived, there were 2 salarymen, and a young couple.

The walls are white, and covered with advertisements for maid photos, shop hours and menu specials, plus little rabbit dolls wearing cat pajamas. The counters are white formica, and the metal stools have red and white padding.

There's a 400 yen table charge for 1 hour, and a 1-drink minimum order. Soft drinks are 500 yen; alcoholic drinks from 550 to 900 yen; entrees like curry rice, spaghetti, hamburg steak and omelet rice for 800 to 120 yen; sandwiches and snacks from 300 to 500 yen; and 3 desserts in the 350 to 600 yen range. There's also a wide range of games you can play against the maids for 3 or so minutes for about 500 yen. And maid photos. A photo with you and one maid is 500 yen; you and everyone currently on staff is 1000 yen.

There's the "welcome home master" chant when you arrive, and "the master is leaving" at the end. You can have a design written on the omelet rice in catsup, and there's an added flavor chant when the food is brought out. I decided to get the curry rice, water and a maid photo (with the table charge it was 1700 yen ($19 USD) total). While I was waiting for the food, the maid brought me over to the stage for the photo. She asked what pose I wanted and I asked for her suggestions. The first one was the typical heart pose and when I didn't look that impressed she offered the cats paws pose. We compromised with a combined heart and cat paw pose. She then disappeared to the back tier behind me to work on the photo, which I think came out pretty good. She also handed me a personalized business card, which reads "Thank you for visiting today. Your fluent Japanese surprised me. Remember 'Turn the Kurumi'". (The last part is a play on her stage name, Kurumi; "kuru" means "spin" in Japanese.)

A little later, the curry rice came out. It wasn't a really big serving, and it only had a couple small pieces of beef in it, but it was filling enough, although a little sweet. The maids automatically refilled my glass with water when it became empty. When the maid set the plate down, she told me that she's really weak, so I had to beam energy to her to build her up for the added flavor chant. I did the beaming, and then she did the "oshikunare" (become delicious) chant.

As the other customers filtered out, the maids came over to talk to me, constantly praising me for being able to speak Japanese in any form at all. They do speak a little English, but they're not comfortable with it. I then spent the next 40 minutes discussing the current anime shows on TV, as various anime TV themes played on the speaker system. I asked what kind of events the maids would like to do if they have the choice and they start offering regular events, and the reply was "cosplay". Particularly dressing up as the main character from the Vocaloid games. After that, we talked about Soul Eater, and who their favorite Soul Eater characters are (thumbs up for Maka, Soul and Franken, thumbs down for Medusa and Maka's father).

The points card is 1 point per visit. 5 points gives you a free 1 hour table charge for one visit. 10 points is a free soft drink, 15 is a maid photo, and 20 is a free soft drink with a maid photo.

When I finally left, I was walked to the door and given "the master is leaving" chant. Overall, I enjoyed myself. Recommended. Ichigo Milk also gets high marks for being one of the few, if not the only, maid cafes in Shibuya now.

Summary:
Name: Ichigo Milk
Location: Shibuya, about 5 minutes from the JR Shibuya station, near Parco 1.
Price: Moderate.
Cover: 400 lets you stay 1 hour (300 for women).
Food: Soft drinks are 500 yen; alcoholic drinks from 550 to 900 yen; entrees like curry rice, spaghetti, hamburg steak and omelet rice for 800 to 120 yen; sandwiches and snacks from 300 to 500 yen; and 3 desserts in the 350 to 600 yen range.
"Love": "Welcome home master" and "the master is leaving" greetings, writing on the omelet rice in catsup, and added flavor chants for the food.
Outfits: Pink jumper and skirt over a white blouse, plus pink frill hairpiece.
Photos: 500 yen with one maid, 1000 yen with all of the maids on staff at the time.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: A prototypical maid cafe, in Shibuya.
Recommendation: This is a good place to visit if you're on the west side of the Yamanote loop, in Shibuya. Recommended.

A search for Kawasaki maid cafes

2010-07-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

Yokohama is about 30 kilometers from Tokyo Station (25 miles), and Kawasaki is 20 km out almost along a straight between the two. Akihabara is about 2 miles from Tokyo station the opposite direction. Obviously, if you had a car and an open freeway, you'd be able to get anywhere along this route within 30 minutes, which isn't that long a drive. Since the roads are rarely free of congestion in Tokyo, you'd be better off taking the trains, which makes the trip closer to one hour. All of this is to make the point that Yokohama, Kawasaki and Akihabara aren't that far apart. And, since I've been able to find 2 maid cafes in Yokohama that it'd be an easy bet that there'd be something in Kawasaki.

I've been wanting to visit Kawasaki again for some time, and I finally took the opportunity 2 weeks ago. In preparation, I searched all of the Japanese maid directory sites online, and asked at several maid cafes in Akihabara if anyone there knew of anything. But, I kept coming up with blanks, until I found a flier for Tsuke-Yume, an "anisong" bar, at St. Grace Court. Figuring that a bar that plays only anime theme songs would be a good place to start for finding fliers for more maid cafes, I headed out.

On a side note, there was supposed to be an attempt by Honey Honey (the maid cafe in Yokohama) to open "American Dinning Cheers" in 2008 across from Kawasaki station. But either the attempt to run a cheerleader cafe fell through or it went out of business fast because I couldn't find a trace of it.

Tsuke Akari Yume Terasu, (Tsuke-Yume for short, or Moon Dream in English) is in the red light district, 3 short blocks southeast of Kawasaki station. It's best if you follow the map from their site, because it was a little tricky to find. In any event, they normally don't open until 6:30 PM, although they occasionally have events like the Overdrive Cafe and Bar, which runs during the day from July 16-25.

Fortunately, I spent so much time trying to find the place that it was almost 6:00 when I arrived, and one of the bartenders was setting up before the doors opened. I asked him if he knew of any maid cafes in the area, and he shook his head, saying that there had been something a while back, but nothing now. I followed this up by asking if they had any fliers for maid cafes in the bar. The answer this time was yes. Turns out that the one flier they had was for St. Grace Court. Funny.

In summary, if you live around Kawasaki and you want to go to a maid cafe, your closest options currently look to be Dear and Honey Honey in Yokohama. But, if you want to hang, drink beer and listen to anime show tunes, check out Moon Dream.

Review: Queens Court

2010-07-15T18:24:00.000-07:00

Queens Court is also a newly-opened cafe in Akihabara, having opened its doors on July 7. It's still in the early formation stages, but is shaping up pretty nicely. The website is still under construction, missing pages for the menu and details on the membership card, but the current appearance of the main page is very promising.

Billed as a guild cafe, the idea is to come in, sit at the bar and chat with the staff for a while. You choose either the cafe menu, which is 800 yen for 30 minutes, all-you-can-drink soft drinks, or the bar menu (3000 for 30 minutes, all-you-can-drink mixed drinks). Obviously, it's not all you can drink, because the staff is going to try to get you to drink slowly, but in the case of ice coffee, which generally costs 500-600 yen at other cafes, I went through 3 glasses at one sitting - not a bad deal.

Queens Court is located just west of Chuu-ou Dori and just north of the JR station, in the same building as Cafe Mermaid. From the Akihabara station, go straight west past Chuu-ou Dori one block. Turn north, and go one more block, then turn west again. It'll be 1.5 blocks down, on the left, on the 4th floor. It's in the same area as Akiba Itchome Theater, Pondichery, m-FACTcafe, Candy Fruits Strawberry, and of course, Mermaid.

As you get out of the elevator, the red curtains and white lace covering the entrance will be on your left. Past the curtains is a long, narrow room running left-right, with counter seating facing away from the entrance. The room is brightly lit, with white walls and ceiling, and red cushion seats for about 15 people. There's more seating for another few people along the other wall closer to the front of the building. To be truthful, I spent so much time talking with the staff that I neglected to check out the room all that closely.

There were four maids, all wearing a kind of mauve school girl's sailor dress uniform, plus the dansou bartender, Kazuma. Kazuma had a very flashy black dress vest and slacks, with a white dress shirt. At 5:30, it was still too early for serious drinking, so Kazuma had a fair amount of free time, allowing us to talk for the full time I was there. I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to refer to Kazuma, because a "dansou" is a woman playing the role of a butler (literally "dan" is "male" and "sou" is "resembling"). I don't think putting "he" in parentheses is appropriate, and I'm expecting Kazuma to be reading this entry at some point and don't want to insult him by accident. Just for convention's sake, I'll use "him" without the quotes.

Dansou in Tokyo all tend to follow the same dress codes and behaviors, and I wanted to know if there was some kind of school or training one needs to take to become a proper dansou. Kazuma's answer was "no", that he was doing this just as his hobby. On the other hand, Queens Court has only been open for a week, so I asked if he'd been at another maid cafe before this. He replied that he'd worked as a bartender at a kind of hostess bar in Ueno previously. Queens Court is planning on having various events in the future, but there's nothing on the calendar right now. I asked what kind of event Kazuma would like to see, and he answered "singing"; turns out he's a big fan of karaoke, which I think would be pretty fun to see.

The cafe was pretty busy during the entire time I was there, with about 8 guys sitting around the place at any given time. No female customers this specific night. One person was working on a laptop, so there's a chance the cafe has wireless internet, or maybe he was just using a cellphone link. Everyone was drinking tea or soda, while I was having ice coffee. No one had ordered food, so I can't comment on that. As I mentioned above, the idea is to order off the soft drink or mixed drink menu for 800 or 3000 yen, and then get free refills for 30 minutes. (At the moment, there's a discount on the prices to celebrate having just opened). There are snacks for 400-600 yen, and some entrees for 1200-1400 yen. I was planning on getting a curry rice or something similar, but didn't get around to ordering right away, and then decided to just settle on the coffee. The coffee was good, very strong, and held up against the ice very well. As soon as the glass was empty, the staff asked if I wanted to have the same thing, and brought me my refill within a few minutes.

(The poker chip.)

There's no real table charge, but there is a one-time 300 yen fee for a membership card. I'm not exactly sure how the card system works, since there's no details on the card and and no write up yet on the website. I do know that the receipt showed 3 points for my 1500 yen bill. So, maybe there's a membership upgrade based on points. One interesting twist is the poker chip system. If you get a maid photo, stay for longer than 1 hour, or get a 30-minute reflex session, you get 1, 2 or 3 poker chips, depending on what you did. If you want, you can hand the chip back to the maid as a "thank you" gift and she'll spend more time talking to you. Or, you can save up the chips for a free drink, food item or maid photo. The most expensive item on the menu is 100 chips. (There's a joke about trying to gamble with the chips at Akiba Guild, the maid casino down the street, but the Queens Court staff don't expect you to get away with it.)

I also decided to get a maid photo with Kazuma, for 500 yen. Along with the membership fee and the drink charge, the evening came to 1500 yen, which wasn't too bad. Because I'd mentioned that I had to get to work in a little while, Kazuma suggested we get the photo right away. Unlike other cafes which use a Polaroid instant film camera, Queens Court uses a digital camera with a photo printer. This lets you preview the photo and retake it a few times if you're not immediately satisfied with the results. We stood along the wall behind the bar near the door in order to get the cafe's sign in the shot. Afterward, Kazuma tried to fancy up the photo from behind the bar, and ended up getting bullied by the maids pouring the drinks for the other customers. Kazuma and I had spent a fair amount of time talking about the manga in Garo magazine, and he wrote on the photo that he'll try reading the Kamui manga in the future (which should be easy, because Mandarake carries collected sets of Kamui, and it's only 2 blocks away).

I have member's number 190, indicating that there've been 189 members ahead of me, which is pretty good for a 1 week span. With luck, Queens Court will be around for a while. I enjoyed myself, and may try going back soon to check out the food. Recommended.

Summary:
Name: Queens Court
Location: West of Chuu-ou Douri, in the same building as Mermaid Cafe.
Price: Moderate-high
Cover: No cover per se. 800 or 3000 yen drink charge per 30 minutes depending on the menu.
Food: The main soft drink menu is 800 yen for 30 minutes, with free refills. The mixed drinks menu is 3000 yen/30 minutes, again with free refills. There are snacks for 400-600 yen, and entrees like curry rice for 1200 yen.
"Love": No love, but the staff will pour the creamer and sweetener syrup in your ice coffee or tea for you, and you are greeted as you arrive and leave.
Outfits: The dansou bartender wore a very classy black vest with trousers and white dress shirt. The maids had a kind of mauve school girls' sailor dress outfit.
Photos: 500 yen for a maid photo
Wireless Internet: Apparently yes. One person was working on a laptop while I was there. But he could have been using a cellphone link.
Specialties: A conversation lounge with free drink refills from the regular menu (special drinks don't get refills).
Recommendation: If you can speak Japanese, this is a great place for relaxing and talking with the staff. The layout is comfortable without being cramped or too spread out, and the staff are very outgoing. Be a little careful of the time, or if you order food, because it can get expensive fairly quickly.

Tanabata, 2010

2010-07-12T18:28:00.000-07:00

Tanabata is a Japanese festival originating from a Chinese event. You can read the details on the wiki page. Suffice it to say that one of the features is that people wear yukata (a summer version of the kimono), and visit shrines in order to write their wishes out on paper and tie them to tree branches to make them come true. It's typically celebrated on July 7.

When I visited Seiyu no Tamago, the customer seated next to me was trying to decide where to go the following day, Tanabata Day, to see maids in kimono. One of his choices was St. Grace Court, and I figured that this would be a good chance to check out something. A few months ago, a visitor to Maid Runner wanted suggestions for maid cafes to visit during their vacation in Tokyo, and I'd made up a list of names. When checking the websites to verify the list, the website for St. Grace Court came up as a broken link. It looked like SGC, which isn't on the beaten path, had closed. But, a little later, I encountered a dansou (woman dressed up as a priest) on Chuu-ou Douri handing out fliers for SGC, and I told her what had happened to me. She answered that the site had been taken down for redesign, and that the cafe was still alive and well. So, for Tanabata I stopped at SGC to see if the physical location had changed.

Actually, the cafe is the same as before. On the other hand, they did have some changes as part of their event. The main difference was that the "sisters" were all in kimono. That, and there was a small fake tree on one table with photos of the maids tied to the branches (the photos, not the maids, sigh). For 500 yen, you could take your pick of one photo. Normally, SGC doesn't offer "2-shot" photos (2-shot is the standard Japanese phrase meaning a photo with two people in it), but for Tanabata you could get your photo taken with a "sister" for 1000 yen (the 500 yen photos were "1-shots").

They also had a seasonal menu, with a curry rice plate for 1200 yen, or shaved ice with ice cream for 1000 yen. I decided to get the peach-flavored shaved ice and vanilla ice cream dessert and a 2-shot photo. The dessert was very good, but way too small for the price. Along with the 500 yen table charge, the total of 2500 yen ($27 USD) was on the very high side. Then again, it was a very hot, muggy day and the peach snowball felt really good. Plus, the maids were friendly. One other point is that this particular maid photo specifically included having the "sister" sitting at the table for 3 minutes touching it up. She even had a stopwatch out to measure the time.

Coincidentally, or maybe not, the customer from Tamago was also at SGC, and we were the only two in the cafe then. However, he was a lot less talkative to me, choosing to spend all his time with the "sisters".

Happy Tanabata to you.

Review: Seiyu no Tamago

2010-07-08T17:56:00.000-07:00

Seiyu no Tamago translates directly as "Voice Actor/Actress Egg". This doesn't come across as well in English, so I'll refer to it here as "Tamago" for the review.

Tamago is just outside the regular Akiba district, on the east side of Showa Douri. To find it from inside the JR Akihabara station, follow the signs for the Showa Douri exit, keep going straight to the street light, cross Showa Douri, and follow along the train tracks on the right side for about a block. Tamago will be on the right side of the street, on the second floor.

Unlike most maid cafes, Tamago embraces the modern elements of concrete and glass. There's no paneling on the walls, and the entire space has the feeling of being in a small warehouse. The room is maybe 20' x 80', with smoking and nonsmoking areas split up on opposite sides of the bar. Mostly, it's counter seating at the bar, for 10 people, and another counter row closer to the front window for another 5-6 people. There were 8 people while I was there, 3 women and 5 salarymen. The only posters or wall hangings consisted of ads for a tie-up event with Yaen Meikyu (the vampire bar), although none of the Tamago staff had been to Yaen yet.

There's a small space on the nonsmoking side of the bar that is glassed off and could be used as a sound room, I guess, although it seems to be set up more as an office. So, I'm not sure where the "voice actress" part comes in. None of the staff did any singing or acting while I was there, and other than for the glassed-off room, there's no space for a separate stage. Actually, the guy sitting next to me had come to Tamago 5 times before, and he commented that he'd never seen the room with the curtains open before, so it doesn't appear to be part of the regular bar space either.

The staff is very friendly and attentive, stopping to talk with the customers between mixing drink orders. My maid spent quite a while mixing up one drink, switching between sampling the mix and reading the recipe book. She looked very serious about getting the drink right, but had no idea what the final result was supposed to be. The costumes consist of a yellow vest jacket with separate collar piece, white skirt and stockings, and the yellow winged cloth "tiara". The jackets have little white angel wings on the back.

Maid photos are not listed on the menu and no one asked for one while I was there. You can get a maid photo if you fill up several of the points cards. It's 1500 yen per point, and 15 points per card. If you fill up enough cards, you can get a photo with the entire staff. Otherwise, just filling up one card will give you a free menu item. There's a small goods stand near the door, and you can get laminated cards or small posters of the maids, and they also have CDs of the maids performing a "voice drama" for 1500 yen.

You may have picked up by now that Tamago is a bar and not a cafe. The emphasis is on mixed drinks (800 yen) and beer (700 yen). Soft drinks are 500 to 600 yen. There's a limited food menu, mostly snacks for 300 to 500 yen. The really interesting item is the "Tamago Kake Gohan". This is a bowl of rice with some shaved dried fish and a raw egg on top, for 800 yen. You can then select from 21 different flavors of soy sauce, and another 21 toppings. The egg gets stirred in with the rice, and there you have it. I tried ordering the Tamago Kake Gohan, but was told a few minutes later that the rice wasn't ready this early in the evening yet. So I settled for a hot sandwich and an ice coffee.

The coffee came out first, in a tall glass filled with ice. The coffee was good and strong right at the beginning but quickly became watered down. The sandwich was two triangles of bread with the crusts removed and the edges crimped down to create bread pockets, with slices of ham and melted cheese inside. Good, but the serving size was too small for the 800 yen price tag. There's also a table charge of 500 yen for an hour, so with the coffee and the sandwich, the meal came to 1900 yen ($20). Kind of on the pricey side.

(Yes, I'm a fan.)

I was able to strike up a conversation with the guy next to me and one of the maids, and that caused the time to go by very quickly. As I mentioned, the staff are friendly and willing to talk. The other customer suggested various other cafes to visit, with a recommendation to go to Little BSD when they have their "newtype" event. I'll hold off on talking about that until later. There was also a suggestion to go to 1 of several different places the following night (July 7), which is the Japanese holiday Tanabata, where the maids dress up in kimono. St. Grace Court was recommended highly for this.

Over all, I had fun, but it was mostly because I could carry on conversations in Japanese. None of the staff seemed to speak English, and the menus and rules cards were all in Japanese. There are events at different times so check the website in advance. Otherwise, if you are just looking for a bar to sit and drink quietly, you may want to find one without the table charge and with English-speaking staff.

Summary:
Name: Seiyu no Tamago
Location: From inside the JR Akihabara station, follow the signs for the Showa Douri exit and keep going straight to the street light. Cross Showa Douri, and follow along the train tracks on the right side for about a block. Tamago will be on the right side of the street, on the second floor.
Price: Moderate high.
Cover: 500 yen lets you stay 1 hour.
Food: Tamago is a bar with some snacks in the 300-500 yen range; mixed drinks for 800; beer for 700; a small ham and cheese sandwich for 800 yen; and a rice bowl with a raw egg for 800 yen.
"Love": No love.
Outfits: Yellow vest-jackets with a separate yellow collar and "tiara", white skirt and stockings, and small white angel's wings on the back of the jacket.
Photos: Available if you fill the points cards. (1500 yen per point, 15 points per card).
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: Maids as voice over actresses, wearing very cute pop idol costumes as angels.
Recommendation: If you're looking for a quiet bar on the outer east side of Akihabara, Tamago is a nice , friendly place to hang out. And, if you go on a hot summer day, they may even give you a free fan.

Cosmate

2010-07-05T18:02:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of places on the net that offer costumes for sale. However, being one of the main hubs for cosplay in Japan, Akihabara does kind of act as more of a central shopping area for cosplay outfits if you're looking for brick and mortar shops. Additionally, some of the maid cafes do their own shopping here for new outfits. So, it's worth mentioning Cosmate in this blog.

Cosmate is located down a short alley just west of JR Akihabara station. To get there, take the Electric Town exit from the station and go west to Chuu-ou Dori. Go north to the second intersection from the train line and turn west. You should see the back of the building on your left, with a small parking lot in front, before you reach the end of the block.

I'm not a big cosplay person myself, so I haven't tried going in to look around at the available outfits. But, I certainly see the shop often enough when I'm scouting out new maid cafes, and a couple cafes carry fliers for Cosmate in particular. If you are a cosplayer, you probably already know about Cosmate. However, if you're thinking about getting into cosplay as a hobby, this is a good play to start out.

(Back of the building, fronting the parking space.)

Review: Yaen Meikyu

2010-07-01T18:37:00.000-07:00

Ghosts? - Check
Angels? - Check
Demons? - Check
Sisters and priests? - Check
Bunnies? - Check

Ok, so what's Akihabara still missing?

Vampires! Well, not anymore.

Listen well, Children of the Night, for there's a cafe just for you, located on the second floor of the building with Pinkie's. Yaen Meikyu bills itself as a "vampire maid cafe and bar", and the name translates roughly to Night Party Mystery. To find it, walk north down Chuu-ou Dori from the JR Akihabara station, on the left side of the street, until you reach the north end of the Donkey Building. Go one more block and turn left. It's 1.5 short blocks west, on the left, just above the public smoking and coffee vending space.

Yaen Meikyu is fairly small, with about 5-6 small tables set up in front of a long sofa-bench, each seating 1 person. There's stool seating at the bar counter for another 6 people. When I arrived, there were two women sitting in one corner of the bench area, and one "otaku" at one of the other tables. After about 10 minutes, the otaku left and was replaced by someone else who chose to sit at the counter. (Please see below about otaku.) There's a coffin lid painted on the wall near the entrance, and the upholstery and fabric covering up the windows is a blood-red velvet. There's a small chandelier, a diaphanous material hanging from the ceiling, and black trim. There's also a fake tiger skin rug hanging from the ceiling...

The staff is divided up into two categories, the dansou-like bartenders, and the vampire maids. The bartenders wore white dress shirts with black trousers and vests. The maids had elaborate gothic white blouses, with black vests and skirts, bow ties and the little pill box hats. The staff were very busy, coming and going to parts unknown out past the elevator, and at one point had been reduced to only two maids that were hard pressed to take and prepare the food and drink orders.

One specific maid concentrated on working my table, and she was very patient with me, trying to understand my broken Japanese. Because I'm now working longer hours during weeknights, I have less time to spend at the cafes. This particular evening, I only had time for an ice coffee and a maid photo. The menu does have quite a few entree items, including rice bowl dishes, pasta, curry rice, and soba - all in the 1100-1600 yen range. Soft drinks for 700 yen, mixed drinks for 900. There's almost nothing in the way of desserts, but lots of snacks, like Pocky or mixed nuts, for 400-600 yen. However, the primary emphasis is on the bar side, with bottles of champagne and hard alcohol going for 3000 to 29,000 yen (about $300 USD).

Like some of the other themed cafes, Yaen doesn't list prices in yen. Instead, it's cc's, with 1 cc = 1 yen. There is a table charge, 500 cc for the bench seating, 800 cc for the counter for 60 minutes. And maid photos are 1000 cc for one. It's definitely one of the pricier cafes, and even with just the coffee and the photo came to a little over 2200 yen ($24 USD). I didn't have time for food, so I can't comment on the quality or amount. The two women did get a plate of takoyaki while I was there, and the plate looked pretty good, so that's promising.

The menu also offers "death games", which are basically just short 3-5 minute matches against the maids playing othello or Jenga, for 500 to 1500 cc each. If you win, you get 2 maid photos or something similar depending on the game. If you lose, you have to consume a special "death drink" as punishment. No one had gotten a death game while I was there.

My maid brought out my coffee very quickly. It was in a smallish tall glass, and brewed very strong. It stood up against the ice very well. A little later, we went up front to take the photo in the entry way in front of the elevator. I asked what the recommended pose was, and my maid initially suggested a cat pose before switching to "an angry cat with claws extended" pose. Afterward I returned to the table, and she came over with the photo and a small carry case filled with markers. During the 5 minutes she worked on the touch up, we talked about Akihabara and Yaen. They don't have special events yet, but there may be something in July for Tanabata. She sounded especially excited about maybe having a Halloween event. She mentioned my Japanese level, and I told her I'm studying for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), so she wrote "good luck on the test" on the back of the photo for me.

There is a point card. 1 point per visit. 5 points gives a 5% discount on the charges, and 10 points is 10%. There is a tracking system for how many 10-point cards you've filled up, so additional points may get you something else.

There's no added flavor chants, but they do have specialized greetings. When you enter, the maid rings a small bell and says "a guest has arrived from the real world to our realm". When they walk you to the elevator door at the end, the bell is rung again and you're bowed out with "the guest is returning to the real world".

Yaen Meikyu is an interesting concept, basically employing elegant goth Japanese vampires rather than some Twilight-inspired red-eyed fanged blood suckers. Although, these maids would look really cute with red eyes and a little trickle of blood along the side of their lips... If you don't mind the inflated prices, I recommend it.

Summary:
Name: Yaen Meikyu
Location: 2nd floor of the building with Pinkie's.
Price: High.
Cover: 500 yen lets you stay 1 hour at a bench table; 800 yen at the counter.
Food: Rice bowls, pastas and curries for 1100-1400 yen. 700 yen soft drinks and 900 yen mixed drinks. No desserts, but snacks for 400-600 yen. Bottles of hard alcohol for 3000 to 29,000 yen.
"Love": No added food chants. "A guest has arrived to our realm" and "a guest is returning to the real world" chants when you arrive and leave.
Outfits: White dress shirt and black trousers for the dansou bartenders. White blouse, black vest and skirt for the maids, plus the little pillbox hat. (The bartenders were also wearing white rabbit ears.)
Photos: 1000 yen.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: A gathering place for creatures of the night, plus chances to play death games against the maids.
Recommendation: The vampire theme is actually rather subdued, with the emphasis placed on goth elegance instead. This is one of the pricier cafes, but it's probably best approached as a hangout for a few beers and a snack or two. Recommended for at least one visit just to check it out.

A note about otaku. "Otaku" is used in Japan to refer to people that are fans of Japanese "subculture" (i.e. - anime, manga, doujinshii, video games, trains, j-pop idols (if the subject is a middle-aged man)) in the way Americans would refer to fan boys. It has generally been a derogatory term until recently, but the public has slowly become more accepting of otaku, and there are now more women that describe themselves as otaku as well. Unfortunately, writers like Patrick Galbraith still use the term as an insult against a very small sub-set of the sub-culture, which is why I try not to use it in these reviews to talk about patrons at maid cafes, to avoid giving the wrong impression about them. But, there are some guys that fall into the stereotype, and then it's really hard to not use it. In this situation, the stereotype is a guy in his mid-20's to mid-30's, short, overweight, wearing a t-shirt, thick black-framed glasses, and with greasy hair and no appreciable social skills, who is always seen alone and apparently still lives with his parents.

Maid Contest

2010-06-28T19:38:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across a postcard for this event entirely by accident. It's for a contest to determine Akihabara's top maid for 2010. The contest started in June, and the winner should be selected on Sept. 1. Top place wins 100,000 yen ($1,000 USD) and a Disney Hotel Passport, and will represent Akiba as a PR rep for the next year. Second place is 50,000 yen ($500) and third is 30,000 yen ($300).

Go, maids!

Review: Gundam Cafe

2010-06-24T19:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, you may say that the new Gundam cafe in Akihabara doesn't belong on Maid Runner because it's not a maid cafe. To this I say "Piffle! Piffle to you dear sir and your outmoded ways!" Actually, I just say piffle because it's fun.

(Opening day.)

The Gundam cafe is a a theme restaurant, much like Hard Rock and Planet Hollywood. Initially, it was also a cosplay cafe, with the female staff dressed up in character uniforms (I like a woman in uniform and jack boots... Mmm, jack boots...) However, while early newspaper reviews stated that you could get your photo taken with the staff, that seems to have been only as part of the opening celebrations. As of this date the standard outfit is dark jeans and dark polo shirts with the Gundam logo where the alligator would be, and no mentions of maid photos in the menus.

I asked one of the staff (the serving staff and bartenders are all female) if it was ok to take pictures of the cafe interior and was told it was fine, but I decided to not use the camera flash. Most of the shots turned out well, but a few were really blurry. The decor is kind of a cross between the interior of a giant robot and the interior of a space colony military base set 10,000 year from now. Lots of white shiny plastic, geometric corners, and black stenciled warnings of "fast opening hatches". A scale model of a Gundam robot stands near the ceiling at the top of one wall, there's a projection screen playing ads for Jaburo coffee and highlights of some of the anime DVDs a little further to the left, and a display case of robot miniatures along the far back wall. The smoking room is walled off to look like a futuristic airport waiting area.

The lines to get inside have thinned out considerably over the last month, but a few people still line up for the 9 AM opening on Sunday mornings to get in for breakfast. One reason why the lines were so long before is that the cafe can only seat 60 people, and everyone does tend to linger after they get inside. When I went at 6 PM on a Monday, there were 5 people ahead of me and the wait was about 10 minutes. Turned out that there were a number of empty seats inside and the staff were just trying to keep the volume of people at a manageable level.

Some of the staff do speak a little English, but the menus are all in Japanese (lots of pictures to point to for placing your order, though). The system's a little different from what I'm used to. Once you have your table, you go up to the cash register next to the door to place your order and pay for it at that time. You're given a number, and if you ordered a coffee drink then you're told to stand at the bar to wait for your drink to be made. Then you take your drink back to your table, and wait until the staff brings your food out to you. You don't have to bus your own dishes afterward, but if you feel like it you can toss your paper or plastic drink cup on your way out. Soft drinks are served in disposable cups so you can take them outside with you and finish them on the way to a DVD shop if you like.

The menu is divided up for lunch (11:30-5:00), "bar time" (after 5 PM) and dinner (after 5 PM). The dinner entrees include hamburg steaks, omelet rice and curries in the 800 to 900 yen range. Beer and cocktails between 450 and 500 yen. Soft drinks and coffees around 350 yen, and ice cream desserts between 300 and 600 yen. There's no cover charge or maid photos, so the prices come out kind of reasonably for a restaurant in Tokyo.

I got a "Haro Latte" and a "Char Aznable beef curry". The latte was gussied up with a picture of the floating beach ball robot from the series in bitter dark chocolate powder. The coffee is supplied by Jaburo estates, and is a good, strong dark roast. Bags of roasted whole beans can be purchased at the goods shop next door for 980 yen for 200 grams. The beef curry was heavily spiced and was closer to a thick Indian-style red beef stew. Very tasty and a decent portion size, but the bed of rice was rather mushy and over-cooked.

(Goods shop and Gundam-yaki counter.)

The staff isn't overly talkative and spend most of their time running between tables and the kitchen bringing out orders or busing used dishes. Interestingly, it was the cashier at the souvenir shop next door who was more interested in talking with me, primarily after seeing the Japanese kanji study book I was carrying around. The goods shop has badges and coffee mugs, wall ornaments and themed snack food packs. Most of the items are over-priced, and will appeal only to fans of the series. There is a "Gundam-yaki" stand near the door where you can buy 2 stuffed Japanese-style tai-yaki pancakes in the shape of the giant robot for 400 yen (one type of filling is red bean paste, and the other is mayonnaise, cheese and bacon).

The cafe is pretty easy to find. Just go to the Akihabara JR station and take the exit to Electric Town on the west/north side of the station building. Stand facing the UDX building, and the cafe will be on your right on the other side of the taxi circle.

There is a points card, of sorts. When you pay for your order, the cashier will give you some "lucky cards". These are scratch-offs. Only scratch off one of the 3 spots (doing more than 1 invalidates the card. Cards are worth 0, 1, 2 or 5 points. Bringing in a total of 5 points gets you a free drink worth under 400 yen. 20 is a "wing commander" card; and 40 is a "colonel's" card. My coffee and curry came to 1350 yen, giving me 4 cards, which then gave me 5 points. Assuming a relation between the meal price and the number of cards received, I could have gotten a free coffee the next time I went (if it hadn't been for the fact that I scratched all the numbers off to be able to look at the artwork underneath, thus invalidating them).

The Gundam Cafe is worth going to at least once just to take in the experience. If you're a fan of the franchise, you'd already have your colonel's card sitting next to your monitor without having waited for me to write up this entry.

Summary:
Name: Gundam Cafe
Location: Northwest taxi circle in front of the Akihabara JR station, on the way to the Tokyo Anime Center.
Price: Moderate.
Cover: No cover.
Food: Curries, hamburg steaks and omelet rice around 900 yen, soft drinks between 300 and 400 yen, beer for 500 yen, mixed drinks for 480, and desserts under 400 yen.
"Love": No love.
Outfits: Dark slacks and dark polo shirts with the Gundam logo on them.
Photos: N/A.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: GUNDAM.
Recommendation: Recommended. Get some Gundam yaki's for take-out dessert when you leave.

Maid Room 2

2010-06-21T17:56:00.000-07:00

Watabe actually has two little display cases set up showing maids at work and play. I blogged about the first case a few weeks ago, and decided to go back and shoot the other one as well. Only problem is that the store has a sign taped up in front of this case so I can't get a clean shot of it. I think it's representative of Akiba Guild, one of the few maid casinos in Akihabara, on Chuu-ou Dori. Although the coaster is for Jam, which I've also reviewed.

Review: Pinafore #3

2010-06-17T19:17:00.000-07:00

Pinafore #3 is the latest edition to the Pinafore chain, having opened in April in the same building as Royal Milk and Kokomaro Milk, on the third floor. The space used to belong to a TCG gaming group. There's no elevator access from the street, so keep in mind that you'll have to climb stairs to get to the cafe.

I haven't been back to #1 or #2 since reviewing them so I can't say if they've changed their decor or menus. In trying to find the URL for the website I stumbled across the review of Pinafore #2 from Akibanana and it didn't seem like they even got the building right (the Akibanana review talks about the cafe being split over floors 7 and 8, while the place I reviewed (and the one mentioned on the Pinafore website) is on floor 4. Anyway, I'll probably go back and double-check #2 when I get the chance.

Regardless, the interior of #3 is very brightly lit and perky, with colored dots on the white walls amidst the posters advertising upcoming events. (No display cases showing maid uniforms on the walls, though.) There's a stamp rally going on at the moment - collect 3 stamps and get a branded item. The room's fairly small, with a few tables on the floor and along one wall, and counter seating with 4-5 big stuffed leather chairs along the wall nearest the kitchen. There's a flat panel screen over the counter which ran a little stage drama produced by the maids, but the sound was off while j-pop played over the sound system. I ended up getting charged a 500 yen table fee, which hadn't happened at the other two locations (I don't know if the fee is new, or is just charged at this cafe.)

I arrived close to 5:30 PM on a Monday, and there were only 4 other customers during that time - a salaryman, a college student regular, and one couple. There were three maids, so the service was good, and one of the maids kept coming back to me to keep talking. My maid went through the rules card with me, took me to the counter and ran through the menus. There are 3 new set menu items that include an entree or dessert, a 500 yen drink and a maid photo (at least this way you don't have to mess with the seemingly-random points card system for getting a maid photo that I'd encountered at #1 and #2 last year) for around 1900 yen. Coupled with the table charge, the total is a little higher than I'd like, but pretty much average for an Akiba maid cafe.

I'd gotten a flier for Pinafore a couple of weeks earlier, which had a coupon for a free soft drink. I wanted to get an ice coffee with it, but was told that it had to be something from the 500 yen drink menu and the coffees and teas are all 600 yen. So I settled for a melon soda. I wanted the maid photo, so I looked the set menus over. The prices for the three sets are the same, including a curry rice, a hot cake dessert set, and something whose name I don't remember. I decided on the "forgotten name" set, and again tried getting an ice coffee with it, only to be told again that it had to be something from the 500 yen menu. This time, I went with the ice oolong tea. My order came out a little later, consisting of a bowl of rice with nori seaweed, smoked salon and sesame seeds on top. The maid poured hot water into the bowl then had me chant with her "made made Kaori" (made made = not yet; Kaori is her stage name) as she stirred up the dish to make it into a kind of smoked salmon and rice soup. The dish was pretty good, and large enough to be filling.

Afterward we walked around the counter to take the maid photo against the kitchen wall. My maid asked me what pose I wanted, and I went with the heart just to be different. The photo touch up was pretty limited, consisting of just the stock Pinafore sticker. However, my maid acted pretty nervous while handing over the photo to me, as if afraid of how I'd react to her touch up work. I'm thinking that her behavior was more related to her appearance in the shot, than to the amount (or lack of) work she put into frillying it up.

The points card has been redesigned. 1000 yen per point, plus 1 point for a rain day and 1 point for staying less than 1 hour. According to the card, 30 points gets you "a present" of some kind.

I didn't see an English menu and none of the maids tried speaking English. So again, you're going to get the most out of the maid cafe experience here if you can carry on a conversation in Japanese. I did enjoy myself a lot, but the cafe felt more like it belonged to Mai Dreamin' or @Home than to Pinafore.

Summary:
Name: Pinafore #3
Location: 2 blocks north of Kanda Myojin Dori, 1.5 blocks west of Chuu-ou Dori, on the 3rd floor of the building with Royal Milk and Kokumaro Milk.
Price: Moderate High.
Cover: 500 yen lets you stay 1 hour.
Food: The menu tends to change up every so often and there are monthly special dishes and desserts. It's best to check the online menu in advance. But, as of this writing, the entrees are between 1000 and 1650 yen; sodas for 500 yen, coffee and tea for 600; desserts around 900 yen; and salads for 700.
"Love": Standard "welcome master" greetings, writing on the curry rice in catsup, modifications on the added-flavor chants for certain entrees.
Outfits: Peach skirt and blouse, black vest, and white apron.
Photos: As part of certain menu sets.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: Random 1-day events (cosplay, singing, etc.) Some video game tie-ups. Various branded items (small hand towels, CDs and DVDs) at the cash register.
Recommendation: Recommended. Pinafore #1 has more character, being the older location, but the staff at #3 are very friendly and easy to talk to. The food's good, but on the pricey side.

Moe Map Wall

2010-06-14T19:11:00.000-07:00

Every so often I'll see pictures on the net, or in one of the Akiba map brochures, of the "map wall". AKA "Moe Map", this wall is located on the outer north side of the Donkey building, along Chuu-ou Dori, on a little side street running west from the Tully's coffee shop at the first floor of the UDX building. If you look at the picture with the big map, the Donkey building is marked by the penguin.

Just about every maid cafe, or maid-related business, has a flier available here advertising their place. So, if a new cafe pops up and you haven't heard about it yet, the Moe Map wall is a good place to go to find out what and where it is.

Review: Cafe and Bar Pray

2010-06-10T18:52:00.000-07:00

A while back, I was returning to the Akihabara train station from a work-related event when one of my co-workers noticed me accepting a flier for a maid cafe from one of the maids on Chuu-Ou Dori. My co-worker (Japanese) was stunned that someone she knew would actually look at these fliers. But, it's the only way to keep up with the comings and goings of the new cafes. Thing is, not all cafes have staff out advertising specific shops all the time, so it's still easy to miss fliers for places I haven't been to yet. Fortunately, I recently picked up the flier for Pray, and since I really liked the the artwork on it, I decided to visit the next time I had the chance. The coupon for a free drink helped a lot, too.

Cafe and Bar Pray is a themed cosplay bar. Although it says "cafe" in the name, the evening menu is primarily geared for mixed drinks, with a small selection of snacks available for 400 yen. The pricing varies based on the age of the whiskey, the size of the drink, etc. Essentially, it's 600 yen for beer, 700 for a glass of wine, and mixed drinks are 800 yen on up. If you arrive before 6 PM, there's no table charge. You do need to order a drink occasionally. Soft drinks are 400 yen each. After 6, it's 300 yen/30 minutes to sit at the tables along the outer wall; 500 yen/30 minutes to sit at the counter. There are about 4-5 2-person tables and the counter can sit maybe 10 people (to be honest, I forgot to count). I couldn't tell how many customers were on the angels' side because the counter was in the way. The devils' side had one guy in full heavy metal face make up. I think he was annoyed with me because I ruined the mood on his side of the bar.

With a name like "Pray", you kind of have to expect some form of religious theme ala St. Grace Court. And you'd be right. The maids are dressed up as angles and devils. One half of the cafe is done up in black, with lace and a painting of the bar's mascot characters. The other half is all in white, with more lace. You decide if you want to be with the angels or the devils. I've always been a little perverse, so I picked the devil's side.

Worked out well because one of the devil's happened to have lived outside of Japan for a few years and could speak fluent English. A second devil, and the one that acted as "my" devil, was very eager to practice English and between the two of them I was able to carry on conversations for the entire time I was there. The menu and rules card are only in Japanese right now, but that may change at some point.

Since I had to work afterward, I just got an ice coffee and asked for a maid photo at the same time. My drink came out quickly in a small, fancy glass, and my devil poured the cream and sugar for me before also stirring it. Almost immediately after, my devil asked if I wanted to get the photo with her. The menu lists the price as 1000 yen for 2 photos, but indicates that it may be possible to only get one shot. However, the emphasis was on the 1000 yen deal, and I decided not to argue about it. We spent a few minutes trying to figure out where to stand in order to get the best contrast (having a devil wearing black in front of a black wall bodes poorly for the resulting photos). Then we also debated what pose to go with. For the first shot, my devil suggested just the heart pose. After that, I described the Detroit Metal City "heavy metal demon horns" gesture, which went over really well. My devil seemed happy to vamp it up for the shot.

The time flew by pretty quickly and I forgot to use the free drink coupon. I didn't get an itemized receipt so I'm not exactly sure what all I was charged for (1000 for the photos, 300 for the table charge and 400 for the coffee doesn't quite add up to the 2200 yen bill presented to me). I'd gotten to Pray a little before 6 PM and left before 6:30. Prior to 6 there's no table charge and I should have only been charged 300 yen for 30 minutes. But, I'm willing to shrug off the 500 yen overcharge because I did enjoy myself, and I like the photos a lot. Just be aware of the possibility of "mystery" charges and react accordingly.

The points card is 1000 yen per point, with some kind of present for 15 points. There was no mention of extra points for a "rain day" (it was raining that night). One of the devils was excited about my birthday being the same as hers and demanded that I come back for that. So, if my schedule works out, I'll see about doing that. At a minimum, I should go back at least once to get a photo with an angel just to see how the other half lives (and to get the other half of a matching set).

Summary:
Name: Cafe & Bar Pray
Location: Across the street from the UDX Building, just north of the Donkey Building. From the Tully's coffee shop at the first floor of the UDX, head north 1 block. It'll be on your left side on the 9th floor.
Price: Moderate.
Cover: Depends on when you arrive. Before 6 PM, seating is free. After 6, table seating is 300 yen/30 minutes; counter seating is 500 yen/30 minutes.
Food: Although the name says "cafe & bar", Pray is primarily a bar with a small selection of snacks. Soft drinks are 400 yen; a regular beer is 600 yen (Angel/Devil beer is 900 yen); and other alcoholic drinks are 600 yen on up.
"Love": Standard greetings when you arrive and leave. Staff will pour sugar and cream in your coffee and stir it for you.
Outfits: White dresses and wings for the angels, black black outfits with bat wings and top hats for the devils. Mixed outfits for the "fallen angels".
Photos: 1000 yen for 2 photos with the maid of your choice.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: A bar serving moderately-priced drinks (for Tokyo), with an Angel/Devil theme.
Recommendation: If you like talking to the staff at maid cafes, and you like cute girls in skimpy outfits, Pray can be a fun place to hang out. At least one of the devils can speak English, and there may be a plan to make English versions of the rules card and the events list (may not happen right away though.) Just be careful about the "mystery" charges showing up on your bill.

Cirque de la Lune, You can go back

2010-06-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

I'm running low on new maid cafes to visit. Most of the remaining places are bars, and at least one of them (Queen Heart) seems to have gone out of business before I could get to it (I wrote in a previous blog entry that I'd gone to Queen Heart a while back only to find out that they wouldn't open until 7 PM, and I had to be at work at 7:20, so I hadn't actually entered the place then). I've been trying to get to Pure Heart, which is a conversation lounge (4000-6000 yen to sit and talk to a maid for a while) that seems to have a cafe attached to it. But, every time I visited the area it's supposed to be in (just around the corner from Yodobashi Camera on Showa Dori) I couldn't find signs for it. I was about to write it off as having gone out of business when I saw a chalkboard for it on the sidewalk one Sunday afternoon. So, the following Tuesday I went back with the intent of reviewing it as a cafe, and it happened again - no signs anywhere. I'm thinking it's only open specific hours on the weekends, so I'll try again later.

Anyway, with only 45 minutes remaining before having to go to work, I decided to try returning to Circe de la Lune for something off their African special menu. For the month of May, Circe de la Luna had two entree items that were African inspired - the dry curry and the meatloaf. Normal Japanese curries have a consistency close to gravy, so a "dry" curry is something similar to cooked hamburger mixed in with a thick sauce. If you've ever been to an Ethiopian restaurant, then you've probably tasted berbere, a spicy powder mixed in water, cooked with meats or vegetables. The Cirque dry curry has a little bit of that flavor. It's not that spicy-hot, but it does taste good and the serving is fairly large for the price. The dish has a few pieces of lettuce on the bottom of the bowl, with a pile of rice, the curry, shaved almonds and a couple slices of hard boiled egg on top.

I accompanied the meal with "mizu dashi" coffee. In the U.S., this is Toddy coffee. You take a pound of coarse ground coffee and let it soak in a bucket of water over night. There's a filter at the bottom of the bucket and you let the coffee flow out into a carafe underneath. This makes a quart of coffee concentrate that you can then mix with water, milk or syrups to get the taste you want. I used to make this all the time when I was living in the U.S. Great stuff. Cirque's version is a little more mild than what I made, but it is tasty. 900 yen for the curry, 500 for the coffee ($15 USD total). Not bad for a Tokyo restaurant.

Again, Cirque was playing some vaguely disturbing music in the background. I asked what it was this time, and the maid brought out the CD - Takako Tate's "Ikimono-tachi" (VAP, 2007). Turns out that I'd just seen her on TV recently, and she'd delivered an amazing performance. Ikimono-tachi isn't available on youtube, but you can get a feel for her songs with "houseki", which I also like. Support her - buy her CDs from jpopasia or whatever importer you prefer.

Review: Cirque de la Lune

2010-06-03T19:08:00.000-07:00

Cirque de la Lune (Cafe 月夜のサアカス in Japanese) is one of the harder cafes to classify. The location itself is just north of the Akiba district, in the general direction of Hiyokoya. Exit Akihabara station at the Yodobashi side, go north past the taxi circle, then jog a block east to Showa Douri. Continue north past Kuramaebashi Douri one block and you'll see the stairs leading down to it on the left, just past Lawson's.

What makes Lune a challenge to classify is that it seems to have several inspiration sources. First, as you go down the stairs to the entrance there's the classic Alice in Wonderland picture. On the other hand, the name is French. The interior has a Victorian feel, with the subdued lighting, fake wooden slat floor, bookshelves all over, and black wrought iron lanterns on the tables for holding candles (unlike Mai Dreamin's electronic fairy candles, these are the real thing). Dollfie dolls can be found in various nooks, and complete sets of the "Alice" manga, along with various other shojo titles are on the shelves and in crannies in the walls. The six large round wooden tables, with bench seating on one side and padded rattan chairs on the other can seat 4 people each, and 2 square tables in the middle of the floor can handle another 4 people.

The small kitchen, just past the entrance, is open to view, and one of the maids works at the stove to prepare the food by hand (instead of just microwaving it). Nearby is a stack of various liquors for the mixed drinks. The chef was wearing regular clothes, while the maids taking orders were in stiff-looking full-length black dresses and white aprons. The sound system played an odd mix of Japanese modern classical ambient house music. And, at the back of the cafe is a small fish bowl, next to an antique sewing machine, with a small exotic fish.

The chalk board on one wall advertised the month's specials, which were African-inspired dishes, including an African curry. Regular entrees are in the 800 yen range. Lots of different teas and soft drinks between 600 and 1000 yen. Some beer, and the ability to make upwards of 100 different mixed drinks for 700 yen each. Side dishes for 400 yen, and thick desserts for 600 yen. Lune also has a lunch menu. Normally, I try to visit the cafes on Tuesdays before starting work, but my schedule was about to change and I'd be working later on Saturdays as well. So, I decided to stop by after work Saturday at 5 PM. Lune was already pretty busy, with 5 guys sitting by themselves, and one couple at one of the tables. It was a little early for dinner, so I just got a bottle of French Berry Lemonade, produced by French beverage maker Lorina, and a slice of chocolate torte.

There's lots of books to look at, photo albums and manga, so I was standing up and wandering around to see what they had when the food arrived. The beverage was a berry-infused carbonated lemonade, and went well with the torte. The torte, in contrast, was a small thick wedge of bitter chocolate topped with a dollop of unsweetened whipped cream with a sprig of mint and a scattering of raspberry bits. Believe me, it was good. And for 1200 yen total, in keeping with Tokyo prices. There's no table charge, which is good, but I couldn't find anything referring to maid photos.

The maids were kept busy with the kitchen and bringing orders out, so I didn't have much chance to talk to them. For the most part, they stayed out of the way when not busy. The cafe does have periodic events, including one associated with some of the dolls a few weeks ago. The next event will be in June, and is tied in to a new release of a Cirque de la Lune mini album. Just as a note, the one maid taking my order did speak in English, but was obviously relieved when I answered in Japanese. There weren't any tourists in sight at the time, but they are welcomed. There's none of the standard maid cafe stuff - no maid games, "welcome master" greetings, or writing on the foods. But, the maids are very polite and walk you to the door and bow as you leave.

There is a points card, but you have to ask for it. 1 point per 1000 yen. 15 points gets you a one-time 500 yen discount on your bill. And check out the website - the photos for the blog definitely give off a goth vibe.

I had fun and plan to go back some time for dinner. I wonder what the African curry tastes like.

Summary:
Name: Cirque de la Lune
Location: One block north of the Kuramaebashi - Showa doura intersection, on the left going down the stairs a little past Lawson's.
Price: Moderate.
Cover: No cover.
Food: A range of entrees in the 800-900 range. During early May, these included African-inspired curry dishes. Soft drinks from 600 to 1000 yen and mixed drinks and beer between 700 and 800 yen. Desserts, including a small slice of unsweetened chocolate cake, around 500 yen.
"Love": No love.
Outfits: Long black dresses with white aprons.
Photos: Not advertised.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: A French/Victorian-style restaurant with a comfortable setting and odd-looking dolls staring at you.
Recommendation: For relaxing places to just sit and chill, Cirque de la Luna is great. There's no cover, the chairs are nicely padded, the lighting is subdued, the food is prepared on site (instead of just being microwaved), the prices are reasonable and the ambient music is just vaguely disturbing. Highly recommended.

A rant

2010-06-02T00:49:00.000-07:00

A lot of noise is made about maids standing out on the streets in Akihabara handing out fliers for their cafes. But, no one talks about all of the other people standing out on the streets or near the train stations in standardized uniforms doing the exact same thing for other kinds of shops and restaurants. Akihabara, Ikebukuro and parts of Shinjuku are famous for the noisy sales people using bullhorns to get customers into electronics shops or shoe stores.

Here, we have people promoting Kanebo cosmetics.

Of course, a whole new blog entry could be written up just on the people handing out packages of tissue papers outside the train stations, advertising hair stylists, used bookstores, and pachinko parlors. My point is that in a country where shops advertise by putting people out on the streets to promote their products or services, there's nothing weird about women wearing maid uniforms handing out fliers. Eye catching, yes. Weird? I think not.

Review: Cafe Triomphe

2010-05-27T18:05:00.000-07:00

Cafe Triomphe is actually a small coffee and tea shop just north of the traditional Kuramaebashi Dori boundary that marks the Akihabara maid cafe district. To get there, take Chuu-ou Dori north from the Akihabara station, turn right at Kuramaebashi, go two very short blocks, turn left and it'll be on your right halfway down the block. I've seen it marked on every maid cafe and moe spot map I've picked up, and every time I've walked by I've never seen a single maid in it. Then, when I was looking at the "Kaicho wa Maid-sama" anime promo flier, I noticed that Triomphe was specifically mentioned as part of the tie-in. So, I finally decided to check it out.

Turns out that while Triomphe has a "sitting room coffee shop" atmosphere, and a wide selection of teas to pick from, it also acts as a rental space. And, occasionally it's been used to host maid cafe events. In fact, one of the uses is to allow people to "run" their own cafe for a day. A price sheet is available on the little fliers table next to the door. I asked about the next upcoming maid-related event and was told that there's nothing on the immediate horizon, and to check the events calendar periodically. On the other hand, there was a stage magician scheduled to perform that night (right about when I had to start work, of course).

Triomphe offers some dinner entrees, as well as having a tea time service, and lunch. I got the "cake set", with my choice from three different cakes, and soft drink. I went with the apple custard cake and hot coffee for 900 yen (about $9.50 USD). The cake was a thin slice with sponge cake on the bottom and an apple glaze on top. The coffee was good and strong, but served in a small cup with no refills. The room is bright and airy, even at night, with cushioned chairs and benches along one wall. Seating for about 30 people unless the tables in the middle of the floor are moved out of the way to allow for some event.

I didn't ask about a points card, although I expect there is one. And they really did have a maid on staff that night. One of the servers arrived after I did, and changed into a long brown dress with a white apron and frill cap. But, I didn't see anything on the menu about maid photos. If I pressed them, I might have gotten a photo with the magician.

Cafe Triomphe is definitely worth keeping an eye on, since they routinely host maid events. And, they're a really nice place for just sitting down with friends for a cup of tea.

Summary:
Name: Cafe Triomphe
Location: Half a block north of Kuramaebashi Dori, two short blocks east of Chuu-ou Dori.
Price: Moderate
Cover: No cover.
Food: Coffee and teas in the 500 yen range, cakes and desserts around 500 yen. Entrees (pastas and curries) for 800 yen.
"Love": No love.
Outfits: Generally this is not a maid cafe or cosplay shop, per se. However, at least one server wore a long brown dress with a white apron.
Photos: N/A.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: This is a coffee and tea shop that rents itself out for magic shows and maid events. You can use it to see what it's like to run your own coffee shop for a day.
Recommendation: If all you want is a nice cup of tea and a slice of sponge cake while you chat with friends, Triomphe is a good place to hang out. If you're interested in the events, such as magic shows or maid tie-ins, check out the events calendar first. Recommended.

2010-05-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

Yet another company putting out a map of shops in Akihabara is Otamap, an otaku-themed advertising forum. There's really no difference here between Otamap, BIZS and ASCII Weekly. Primarily it's just a question of which shops paid to advertise through which agency.

However, Otamap's website does have a fairly complete map for Osaka, which does set it apart from the other two, which are Akihabara-centric. And it does list upcoming events for doujinshi at Big Site, and anime releases at other venues (Japanese only).

Review: Dear Cafe

2010-05-20T18:06:00.000-07:00

Dear Cafe is quite close to Honey Honey, in Yokohama. While you can get there from the south side of the Yokohama train station, if you already know where H^2 is, just go straight west from the Lawsons 1 long block, turn left and it'll be close to your left in the same building as the cat cafe.

H^2 and Dear have a lot in common, from the similar black dress and white apron outfits, to the open, airy feel of the cafe interiors. Dear is split up between smoking and nonsmoking, with 4 two-person tables each, and 4 stools at the bar. There are some posters on the walls, including one advertising an anime series, as well as pictures of the maids. The bar has a small selection of alcohols, but it's the shelves of dishes and cups that make it feel like someone's dining room. Plus, there's a big green wood cabinet dominating one wall, with a TV, stereo, shelves of manga, and albums of photos from past events. I arrived right after visiting H^2, at 1 PM, and there were just 2 maids, one working the floor and the other at the bar, and 4 male customers. The customers included one visually impaired person, 2 salarymen still in business suits, and a college student.

The maid was very outgoing, and after learning about the otaku map and my having been to other cafes in Akiba, became very excited about showing me the photo albums and talking about Dear. The college student and the visually impaired guy also chimed in and talked about places that they'd visited, too. Things got very friendly from that point, but of course, it was all in Japanese, and my (lack of) speaking skills left the others looking really confused at times. In any case, Dear is a cosplay cafe, with various event nights throughout the month. Past events included "nurse", "little sister" and some goth anime cosplays. Most of the photos in the albums are professional grade, and the staff looks like they really get into their roles. When I told my maid about Queen Dolce, she got all weak in the knees at the idea of attending a dansou bar. Although, "Garcon to Isshou ni", a shop where you can pay to talk to a dansou for up to 1 hour, left her less impressed.

Like H^2, Dear doesn't have maid photos on the menu. Instead, you have to fill up two points cards, or attend certain special events. I don't remember if it's 500 or 1000 yen per point, but my tab came to 950 yen and I only got one point on the card. For 5 cards you get a free dessert. 10 gets a group maid photo. 20 is a present, and 30 is a special.

For the menu, they have pastas, curries, rice dishes and beef bowls between 800 and 1000 yen. Snacks between 200 and 600 yen. Soups for 150 to 500 yen. Crepes, sponge cakes and parfaits between 500 and 1000 yen. Soft drinks around 600 yen, and mixed drinks and beer for 500 to 900 yen. Having just had lunch, I went with the dessert set, including an ice coffee and a chocolate mont blanc. The coffee came out in a tall glass, and the maid added the syrup and cream and stirred it for me. The dessert came out a little later, and was a hard-to-describe chocolate sugar thing. I've had a mont blanc at a maid cafe before and this one was very similar. Not that large, but tasty. I was surprised when, right after setting down the dessert, my maid asked for my cell phone in order to take a photo of it for me. I guess the staff are rightly proud of their artistic food skills and want to give the customers reminders of it. Fortunately, there's no table charge so the total price was good for a maid cafe.

I'm really beginning to realize just how much difference being able to speak Japanese makes at maid cafes. Very few people I've encountered in the cafes speak English, or are willing to even try, but they'll get very talkative and helpful if given the chance. Regulars especially like to show off their knowledge of the cafe to impress the maids, which in turn encourages the maids to do one-upsmanship. I've especially enjoyed being able to get into conversations at Queen Dolce, H^2, and now Dear Cafe. The point is, though, that if you don't speak Japanese, these cafes are going to be a lot less interactive and entertaining. Be warned. Regardless, or because of this, I had a lot of fun here.

Summary:
Name: Dear Cafe
Location: 1 block west of Honey Honey. Starting facing away from the Lawson's convenience store, go straight west one long block, then turn left. It'll be on your left about 20 meters down.
Price: Moderate.
Cover: No cover.
Food: Pastas, curries, rice dishes and beef bowls between 800 and 1000 yen. Snacks between 200 and 600 yen. Soups for 150 to 500 yen. Crepes, sponge cakes and parfaits between 500 and 1000 yen. Soft drinks around 600 yen, and mixed drinks and beer for 500 to 900 yen.
"Love": "Welcome master" greeting when you arrive, and "please be careful" as they bow you out. Writing on the entrees in catsup, and the hot coffee drinks in chocolate syrup.
Outfits: Long black dresses with white aprons and white hair piece.
Photos: Only with the points card, and certain special events.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: Cosplay cafe. Check the events calendar before you go.
Recommendation: Dear Cafe has some good desserts, the prices are reasonable, the staff is very friendly, and the photo albums from past event nights are fun to page through. Recommended, but try to go on an event night.

Maid Club / Toy Heli Museum

2010-05-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

Sadly, Maid Club has closed its doors. This was the souvenir shop just off Chuu-ou Dori near the Akihabara station that had the huge billboard on top of one building facing the street. It was on the third floor above the Goodman hobby shop. In fact, a few weeks ago I'd gone by to visit Maid Club, and there was a sign on the door of Goodman that I thought was saying that Goodman was closing up. Turns out I was wrong.

Almost immediately, Maid Club was turned into the Toy Heli Museum, a small shop that sells RC helicopters, boats and cars. They even have a few RC itasha cars (the sports cars covered in decals of female characters from video games or anime). There's a table in the middle of the floor with a miniature city mock-up, and landing pads on various buildings that you can practice taking off from and landing on. While I was there, two male customers tried their hands at a couple different models of small helicopters with fairly disastrous results. Several of the copters are only a few inches long and cost around 5000-7000 yen ($50-$75 USD). The blades are light plastic and spin really fast, but there doesn't seem to be a really scary cutting factor and the blades don't shatter if the copter runs into the ceiling or a wall. The bigger RC pirate ships and race cars run several hundred dollars. As I was leaving, I saw one of the little copters plugged into a USB cable, recharging its battery.

Why mention THM here? Because they're staffed with maids!

Yes, THM is a maid-themed RC shop. I love Akihabara. Anyway, they don't seem to have a website, but there are a couple of blogs that describe the place. Definitely worth checking out and playing with the smaller copters.

Review: Honey Honey

2010-05-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

There's this belief promulgated by the media that the only place you'll find maid cafes is in Akihabara, and that Akiba is somehow "marked" by being overrun by them. Of course, neither myth is true. It is true that Akiba has the most maid cafes per capita, but that's just because they've reached critical mass there. Most major cities in Japan will at least have an "anime center" or "anime town", and a few maid cafes will appear in order to fulfill the demand around those areas.

So far, I've only found the one "otaku guide" map, which is specifically for Yokohama (I think I picked it up from Cos-Cha) as mentioned earlier. While there's no URL listed for the publisher, it looks like it may have been sponsored by Honey Honey (H^2). Since Yokohama's just 15-20 miles out from Tokyo, and is easy for me to reach by train, I decided it was time to widen my field a bit.

From Yokohama station, take the west exit and follow the streets south and east to get to where a river (actually a glorified drainage canal) cuts in to parallel the tracks south. You'll know you're in the right area when you see Yellow Submarine and the Movil theater just the other side of the river. Follow the river 1 block east then 3 blocks south until you cross under the first major street bridge. Turn right for 1 block then go left (south). You should see Lawson's convenience store on the corner on the left, and H^2 is on the second floor above it.

H^2 is a fairly typical little maid cafe and bar, with a padded bench along one wall, and 7 laminated fake-wood tables for holding up to 12 people. Two large round tables in the middle of the floor can hold 5 more people each, and there are 5 stools at the bar. The space is airy and brightly lit during the day, with big plate glass windows overlooking the street. The bar is well stocked, although there's an emphasis on big sake bottles placed right in front of the customers.

(Be careful how you drink your coffee...)

I arrived right at noon, in time for lunch. There were 2 maids working the floor, a third behind the bar, and 1 male chef working the kitchen. While I was there, the customers consisted of 8 men, ranging from off-duty salarymen to a couple street rats. Most seemed to be regulars that the maids greeted by name. The staff do use the standard "welcome master" greetings when you arrive, and "the master is leaving" as they bow you out. They also draw the picture of your choice on the food in catsup, and on the drinks either in honey or chocolate syrup.

There's no table charge, and the food prices are fairly reasonable. I decided to go with the omelet rice and "choco latte", for 1440 yen total. Other menu items include omelet soba (soba noodles with an omelet on top) and the standard curry and snack items in the 400-900 yen range. Of course, there's soft drinks around 500 yen and mixed drinks and beer for 500 to 700 yen. And sponge cake desserts for 500-800 yen. My chocolate latte came out first in a small cup with lots of foam on top. My maid asked what I wanted drawn on it and I figured that a cat would be the easiest thing to go with. From this point, off and on, both maids came over to ask why I was there, to talk about the otaku map and various Akiba maid cafes, and about anime and manga in general. A neighboring customer ordered a foamed hot tea, and got Korosuke drawn on it in honey. After about 20 more minutes, my omelet rice arrived and I decided to get Korosuke as well, while learning two things - 1) that Korosuke was my maid's favorite thing to draw, and 2) that he's a character from a series by the creator of Doraemon. Both the hot coffee and the omelet rice were good. The rice had a good mix of vegetables, chunks of chicken and spices, although it could have used a little more salt. At least the serving size was big.

They have a points card. 1000 yen per point. The only way to get a maid photo is to get 20 points on the card. Unless you're female, in which case you can get the special 900 yen set that includes a dessert, the option to put on a maid dress, and the photo.

(A flower arrangement created by a customer for Honey Honey.)

The maids didn't speak English and the menu was only in Japanese (although all of the items are accompanied by pictures). The maids also didn't comment on other gaijin visitors so I assume that they don't have much in the way of tourist traffic. I hope that changes, though, because I enjoyed myself there and they deserve more customers.

Summary:
Name: Honey Honey
Location: South of Yokohama station about 4 blocks, on the second floor above the Lawson's. From the station west exit, head south and try to stay near the tracks until you get to the river. Follow the river 100 meters east then head south another 4 blocks. Just past the first major street bridge, turn right, go down one block, turn left and it'll be on your left.
Price: moderate.
Cover: No cover.
Food: Standard curries, omelet rice and an omelet soba for around 900 yen; snacks for 400 yen. Various dessert cakes for 500-800 yen. Soft drinks for 480-560 yen, and mixed drinks and beer for 500-700 yen.
"Love": Standard "welcome" and "take care" greetings, writing on the food and drinks. Maid hand-stirs the coffee for you.
Outfits: Black dress with white blouse, apron and frill cap.
Photos: Maid photos only available if you fill the points card.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: Basically, one of the few maid-themed cafe/bars in Yokohama.
Recommendation: So much depends on having the ability to carry on conversations in Japanese. If you can, then this place is a blast to hang out, and the maids like to stop and chat with everyone. If not, then you can at least come here for the food, which is also good and not all that expensive. Recommended.

Yokohama Action

2010-05-10T18:08:00.000-07:00

It's easy to forget that not all maid cafes are in Akihabara. Most of them, but not all. And there are butler cafes (designed for female customers), concentrated in Ikebukuro with one or two in Shibuya and Akihabara. Places in Kyoto and Osaka are too far away from Tokyo for me to visit and see what they have, but Kawasaki and Yokohama are more manageable, being only 15-20 miles out from Tokyo station.

Interestingly, I found a "Yokohama otaku map" in one of the shops in Akihabara. Obviously, Yokohama, having a smaller population, is going to have a smaller number of shops, but there's still enough anime and video game fans to justify chains like Animate, Melon Books and Toranoana having outlets there. The Yokohama map lists 36 places, divided into categories including trading cards, plastic models, anime and manga shops, cosplay supplies and even cat cafes (small rooms where you can sit and play with some cats for an hour). Unfortunately, the map doesn't have a URL for the publisher so I can't include a link to it here. But, it does look like the publisher is related to Honey Honey in some way (since the H^2 logo character is used as a map guide). Sorry about the marked-up version of the map; I'll replace this one with a better scan if I can find another copy again.

Of all the shops listed in the flier, two stand out for me. First is Honey Honey, a maid cafe, at point #22.

Second is Bar Jaburo, a Gundam-themed izakaya not shown on the map.

H^2 is just south of Yokohama station and will be reviewed separately. Jaburo is maybe 1 km southwest of Sakuragi-chou station. For some reason Jaburo doesn't have any web presence, showing up mainly at review sites and in the blogs of people that have visited there. You can read about my attempt to find it on my main TSOJ blog, but if you're ever in the red light district there, you can look around for it yourself. (Bar ジャブロ - 横浜市中区長者町8-133、TEL 045-231-3035)

(Actually, there is a third spot, Dear Cafe, which isn't included in the flier, but is located in the same building as the cafe cafe at point #23. I'll review Dear in a separate entry as well.)

Review: Para-Yuni

2010-05-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

Para-Yuni is one of the easier cafes to find, being right across Kandamyojin Dori from @Home. Actually, it's in the same building as the maid-themed UFO Catcher parlor and @Sweet, on the 5th floor. Back some months ago, I'd initially been planning on going to Para-Yuni first, but as I'd gotten close to the top of the stairs, I heard a male voice shouting out that the food was bad. So I visited @Sweet instead that evening. A little later, I decided to come back and try again, but it turned out that they've taken to having Tuesdays as their night off, so it wasn't until just recently that I was able to drop by on a Wednesday before work.

PY is a prototypical maid cafe, brightly lit with white walls, sheets of paper all over advertising events, maid photos and food specials, and a stage at one end for the photos and various song events. One major difference is that there are a lot of windows on two walls, and they've been painted up to feature the mascot girl character standing in front of a night sky star field. Further, being above a UFO Catcher shop, they've decided to line the counters with the better quality figures from anime like Dragon Ball, Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler), Evangelion and others. A sign near the door asks you to not walk off with the figures. It's a smaller space, with a couple of tables able to seat 4 people each, and then counter seating along the opposite wall.

When I walked in, I was told not to come in much past the door, and wait for someone to take care of me. At the time, there was a party of 4 women at one table, although a little later 1 confused-looking young salaryman came in and ordered dinner. A maid approached and ran me through the rules, asking if I'd accept the 500 yen table charge. I was directed to the counter, and they brought out a glass of water right away.

The food entrees include the standard curry, hamburg steak, omelet rice, etc., plus katsu don and udon, in the 800 to 1100 yen range. Some of the dishes can be supersized for a few hundred yen more. Soft drinks for 500-600 yen, mixed drinks and beer for 700 to 800 yen, and ice cream and sponge cake desserts from 400 to 800 yen. I decided to get the curry (800), with ice coffee (500) and a maid photo. Along with the table charge, the total was 2300 yen, which wasn't too out of line.

There were two maids working the floor at that time, and they spent most of their time joking with the 4 at the table. My order came out pretty fast, indicating that the rice and curry had been pre-prepared and was just waiting to be shoveled onto the plate. The maid poured the sugar and cream into the coffee for me, and then ran me through the added flavor chant. The twist here was that she included her name in with the "moe moe oishikunare beam" (cute, cute become tasty beam) chant. It mostly worked - the coffee held up against the ice, but the rice for the curry was a bit mushy. On the other hand, the curry sauce itself was more like beef stroganoff gravy - very thick and creamy tasting, with lots of shredded beef in it. The serving was on the small side, but I could have upgraded it if I'd wanted to.

When the other guy's meal came out, both maids teamed up on him, having him go through a "stand on one leg, Ultraman battle action attack" routine for the added flavor chant. The poor guy couldn't understand why he had to do this, and the rest of us egged him on, applauding when he was done. PY is very playful that way.

After we took my maid photo, my maid came over to the counter along with a couple packs of markers. This was the first time that the maid actually fancied up the photo at the table with me. The up side to this was that we were able to talk for a while. Some maid cafes charge extra to be able to chat with the maid this way, so I took this as an added bonus to getting the picture. Mostly, we just talked about being in Akihabara, and her hobby of singing anisongs (anime songs). The music playing on the PA came from the CD that the maids recorded and sell for 1000 yen. When she finished the photo 5 minutes later, she asked what I thought of it. I replied that it was very cute, and she sighed with relief, adding that she didn't know what she would have done if I didn't like it.

Para Yuni has a points card. 1 point per 1000 yen, plus 1 point for a "rain day". 10 points gets you a 10% discount; 20 points is 20%, and 3 points is a free maid photo and a new card. They have periodic cosplay events, so check the online calendar in advance. We all had fun. Recommended.

Summary:
Name: Para-Yuni
Location: Kandamyuojin Dori, 1 block west of Chuu-ou Dori, above the maid-themed UFO Catcher parlor, 5th floor.
Price: Moderate high.
Cover: 500 yen lets you stay 1 hour.
Food: Curry, omelet rice, katsu don and udon for 800 to 1100 yen, which can be supersized for a little more. Soft drinks for 500-600 yen. Mixed drinks for 700-800 yen. Ice cream and sponge cake desserts for 400-800 yen.
"Love": Added flavor chants, writing on the food.
Outfits: Blue skirts with white blouses.
Photos: 500 yen for one photo. A CD of the maids singing j-pop is also available for 1000 yen.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: Standard maid cafe with more of a UFO Catcher toy figure theme, with cosplay events and singing.
Recommendation: Para Yuni can be very lighthearted, and is popular with female customers. Recommended.

Maid room

2010-05-03T17:47:00.001-07:00

Just off Chuu-ou Dori, 1 block west of the Belle Salle building is Watabe, a small import foods shop. They had this little room model on a table in front of their shop. The coaster on the floor is from MIA Cafe.

Review: Queen Dolce

2010-04-29T18:10:00.000-07:00

You (yes, both of you) requested it, and here it is. My first dansou experience. (Yes, they were gentle...)

Queen Dolce is a dansou bar. For those of you not keeping notes, "dansou" refers to women that dress up as butlers (more or less). Most of the butler/dansou cafes are located in Ikebukuro, on the opposite side of the Yamanote train loop, but there is one in Akihabara as well, and that one is Queen Dolce. Essentially, butler cafes are the complement to maid cafes, places designed to appeal to a female clientele. Variations on the butler theme are dansou and little brother.

Queen Dolce is probably the most accessible of the dansou cafe/bars in that half the customers can be male at any given night, and their menus and rules cards are in both Japanese and English to support foreign tourists. It's located just off Chuu-ou Dori in with Fille, Cure Maid and Mai Dreamin' 1, on the 3rd floor above Nyankoro, the cat cafe (1000 yen to play with a room full of cats for an hour).

I arrived right around 6 PM on Tuesday night, and the place was already half full. Well, that's actually fairly easy to do because QD is relatively small, with 3 tables for holding 4 people each, and stools for another 5 or 6 at the bar counter. The walls are black and there's no windows. A sign board at the front wall announces upcoming specials or events, and the adjacent wall holds photos of some of the dansou from previous events. Alongside the photos were face cards from a playing card deck. There's something of a playing card theme on the website as well. Anyway, three guys were at the tables, and another two at the bar. There were also two women at the bar but at least one of them seemed to be an off-duty employee. A few minutes later, two more women came in and sat at one of the tables. There's no cover charge for being at the tables, but 500 yen to be at the bar to chat with the staff. There's also a one-time 200 yen fee if you get alcoholic drinks.

QD is primarily a bar, with a small number of entrees for 1000 yen. Actually, the food comes from the kitchen at Cure Maid next door, and you need to pay in advance so that the dansou can bring the dish back when it's ready. They have spaghetti, curry rice and omelet rice. I decided to get a plate described as a "hamburg don" - a bowl of rice with a huge hamburger patty with gravy on top, a small potato salad and small lettuce salad on the side and a small bowl holding a poached egg for stirring into the rice. I accompanied this with an ice coffee. As usual, the coffee came out first, in a tall, narrow glass on ice. I added so much sugar syrup and cream that I have no idea if the coffee was good or not. But, the resulting mix definitely was good. By the time the entree came out, the coffee was gone, so I followed it up with a hot coffee. The entire meal was good and very filling, and came to 2000 yen (500 per drink, plus the 1000 for the hamburg plate). Not bad for a theme cafe. As I say, the emphasis is on the alcoholic drinks, which are 900-1200 yen. 1000 yen for beer.

For the most part, the staff stayed at the bar, occasionally coming over to the tables to take and deliver orders and to refill the glasses of water. Every so often, one of the dansou would drop by to ask what I thought of the bar, how I liked the food, and so on. One of them spoke a little English, but it was obvious that Japanese is the preferred language. Finally, someone that I took to be the manager came over and we talked for about 15 minutes, about the dansou concept, and similar places in Ikebukuro, and she showed me a photo book of the various staff members. (On the website, they're referred to as "the cast"). I mentioned maid runner and she said that it was probably all in English (making it hard to read). I commented that I do include photos. That's when she told me that QD offers dansou photos for 500 yen. Interestingly, she said that since this was a special occasion, the entire staff would be included in the shot, which was taken by one of the other women sitting at the bar. Afterwards, one of the other dansou spent 5 minutes touching up the photo, both on the front and the back. I think it came out quite well. (Note, I didn't see any mention of "chekki" (dansou photos) in the menu or on the sign boards, but it is listed in the menu section of the website.)

They do have a point card. 1 point per 1000 yen. At 20 points, it's a free soft drink; 40 for a dansou photo; and 60 for a mixed drink.

I had a lot of fun, and the dansou were actually easier to talk to than most maids are at the other cafes. Probably the funniest moment was when one of the off-duty staff was getting ready to go home, and was carrying a big plastic bag with her. It contained a huge plush animal (not sure if it was a sheep or a llama) and one of the other staff members asked to see it. This led to a big "hug the cute plush llama" event, and the decision by one of the other dansou to not return the cute llama to its owner. All the owner could do was hold the bag out, pout and repeat "kaeshite kure" (please return it) for several minutes. I never expected butlers to go gaga over a large soft, cuddly llama. Even dansou have their soft side.

Summary:
Name: Queen Dolce
Location: Next door to Cure Maid, just off Chuu-ou Dori, 3rd floor.
Price: Moderate.
Cover: 500 yen to sit at the bar. 200 yen surcharge for your first alcoholic drink.
Food: A limited selection of entrees (spaghetti, curry rice, omelet rice) for 1000 yen, and some snacks for 300 yen. Soft drinks for 500-600 yen. Mixed drinks and beer for 900 to 1200 yen.
"Love": No love.
Outfits: White shirts, black vests and black trousers.
Photos: 500 yen.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: Lots of mixed drinks served by female butlers.
Recommendation: If you're looking for a "butler" experience, Queen Dolce is definitely a great introduction. Friendly staff, and tourists welcome. Recommended. Just leave your large, cuddly, plush llamas at home or you'll never see them again.

Maid advertising

2010-04-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

One of the interesting things about Japan as a whole, and Akihabara in particular, is that character logos for a particular business don't need to relate to the product or service, as long as they're cute, and follow some expected theme. In this first photo, we've got a shop that sells air guns and used games. Can't beat cat maids for cuteness, anyway. Unfortunately, the URL seems to be broken - it results in page not found errors.

Even NEC's outlet store has gotten in on the maid gimmick for the character logo, but disappointingly there's no real maids in the store selling hardware.

Review: Cos-Cha

2010-04-22T17:11:00.000-07:00

Cos-Cha is a little hard to find, being in the middle of a bunch of little shops towards the north end of Akihabara. Go north along Chou-ou Dori to Kuramaebashi Dori, then turn left. Go another 3 short blocks west and turn left again. One short block, and it'll be on your right, on the second floor in the same building as Little BSD.

I'd kind of forgotten about Cos-Cha, having walked by it a couple of times before but not really wanting to check it out right away. However, I'm now getting down to the end of the list of cafes I haven't been to yet, and I was planning on hitting Little BSD (which I'd been putting off because of the table charge) when I saw the sign again for Cos-Cha. The advertisement saying "no table charge" tipped me over the edge.

Cos-Cha bills itself as a "cosplay cafe and kitchen". When I arrived, there were two maids, both in black sleeveless short French maids outfits. Other nights include different costumes, including a "bunny girl" event on Friday night. The French maids dresses are very distracting.

The room forms a kind of "L" shape, twisting around the kitchen. The front area is smoking only, and seating is at school desks for about 10 people. There's a big blackboard at this end, with a lot of announcements and pictures in chalk covering it. The back half of the L consists of 20 normal wooden laminate 2-person tables and chairs. The walls have a fake red brick covering, and 2 TVs were showing some program where maids were pulling practical jokes on people (such as serving sushi rolls packed with hot sauce, and a "look where I'm pointing" game that ends up with the maid delivered a really wicked slap to the face. The sound on the TV was turned down and j-pop played on the speaker system.

In Cos-Cha, the maids are referred to as "angels", which explains the logo. When I came in, the first angel asked if I wanted smoking, and when I said "no" she directed me to the back of the room. There were were 2 men in the smoking area, a couple sitting next to the windows, a salaryman working on a laptop in the corner below the TV, and three foreigners along the back wall to the left. Two of them seemed to be French, and they ignored me before leaving a few minutes later. The third foreigner seemed to be Latino, and he ignored me when playing video games on his cell phone. Most of the people headed out after while, but were replaced by another couple and several other regulars. The place felt somewhat empty, but there generally were several people in there at a time.

The angels are friendly and willing to chat, but will also leave you alone if you desire. Neither of the two there that night spoke English, and the first one commented later that the two Frenchmen hadn't tried talking with her at all. After I'd finished my meal, I spent some time chatting with her, and then teaching her the standard list of English phrases ("welcome", "can I take your order", etc.). I really should know better by now that I'm not going to get anything in return for the English lessons, but it is one way to make the time go by, and I'm guaranteed to get attention this way.

The menu is fairly extensive, with pastas, omelet rice and hamburg steak entrees running from 800 to 1500 yen. Soft drinks around 500 yen, mixed drinks and beer between 500 and 1000 yen, and large desserts for 1000 yen and up. There was also a special menu featuring three "Indian curry dishes" for about 1300 yen. I ordered a chicken curry that turned out to be a regular Japanese curry rice, a little spicier than normal but lacking any meat at all, so I don't know if that was supposed to be "Indian" or if the cook messed up the order. I didn't mind that much, because the serving was filling and the sauce was pretty tasty. (They also have lunch and tea time menus.)

Some of the dishes are marked "chu chu" and are a couple of hundred yen more expensive. Mine was a "chu chu" curry. What this means is that when my dish was brought out to me, the second angel knelt by the table, picked up the spoon, took the first spoonful of curry and blew on it for a few seconds to cool it down before spoon feeding it to me. After that I was allowed to feed myself. It's a fairly erotic experience, but you really have to be trusting that she's not coming off a cold or the flu. I also ordered an ice coffee, which was a dark roast in a large glass. It was strong enough to retain its flavor while the ice melted in it. The curry was 1280, the coffee 550 yen. If I'd stopped at that, it would have been a reasonable price for a maid cafe, especially as there's no table charge.

The real money is being made on maid photos. It's 1000 yen for just the photo of the angel. 1500 yen if you want a shot of two angels, or a picture of yourself with an angel. That's 1000 yen more than at most other cafes, and is the cost of an entree or dessert right there (or twice a normal table charge). On top of which, there weren't any drawings or embellishments, either. When the meal was over, my angel brought me over to the blackboard and asked what pose I wanted. I asked what her suggestion was, and she answered with either the heart or cat pose. So I joked "how about a "cat heart", so that's what I got. (You can also get a short maid video, or a 15 second "voice greeting" for 1000 yen each.)

(Points card)

Total for the evening came to 3330 yen. Normally, you pay at the table, but here you go up to the register near the door. I asked for a points card, and was told that yes, they do have one. Apparently my angel wasn't going to give it to me if I hadn't asked for it. 1000 yen per point. At 20 points you get an unspecified present.

3330 yen is definitely on the high side, but the food is good and the servings are big enough. If you're counting pennies, hold off on the maid photos and get that somewhere else. I think that this would have been a pretty standard experience if I didn't speak Japanese, but as it was my angel was very smart and easy to talk to (the second angel tended to giggle mindlessly just a bit too much) so I did enjoy myself. And I knew what I was getting into when I ordered the photo, so the final price tag wasn't all that unexpected. Overall, Cos-Cha was definitely worth visiting. And now I'm wondering what my angel looks like in a bunny girl dress...

Summary:
Name: Cos-Cha
Location: Back side of Akihabara. From Akihabara station, go west to Chuu-ou Dori, then north about 1 km to Kuramaebashi Dori. Turn left (you'll be heading to Schatzkiste), go three short blocks and turn west again. It'll be on your right, on the second floor below Little BSD.
Price: Moderate to high.
Cover: No cover.
Food: Wide variety of entrees, including different curries, pasta, hamburg steak and omelet rice in the 800 to 1500 yen range. Soft drinks around 500 yen, mixed drinks and beer between 500 and 1000 yen. Massive desserts from 1000 yen and up.
"Love": Drawing on the food in catsup for a couple hundred yen extra. Standard "welcome master" greetings when you arrive and leave. Certain entree and dessert items are a little pricier, but include the maid feeding you the first bite.
Outfits: This is a cosplay cafe, so outfits can change daily.
Photos: 1000 yen for just the maid. 1500 yen for either 2 maids, or yourself with a maid.
Wireless Internet: Yes.
Specialties: Cos-Cha is a cosplay cafe, so one of the main attractions is to see the maids in different costumes. There's also something of a school theme, with about 1/4 of the tables being made up of elementary school desks and a big blackboard along one wall.
Recommendation: Cos-Cha is actually one of the more fun places to go to, if you want a semi-erotic experience and can speak Japanese. But, watch out for the maid photo prices - that'll break your budget fairly quickly.

In the station

2010-04-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

You know you're in Akihabara when the first thing you see entering the train station is a floor to ceiling ad for @Home.

Review: Hiyokoya

2010-04-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

When entertainment writers talk about Akihabara, they're referring to a roughly 6-block square spanning from Kanda river to the south, Showa Dori and the expressway on the east, Kuramaebashi Dori to the north, and 452 to the west. Places along 452 or Kuramaebashi are considered to be at the "remote outskirts" of the neighborhood, ignoring the fact that you can get from one corner to the other in about 5-10 minutes on foot. While Akihabara is bigger than the downtown areas of many western cities, you have to remember that it comprises a fraction of the 4 mile by 7 mile oval that is the interior of the Yamanote train loop. This oval is so packed with buildings and stores that you'd never be able to visit them all in one life time. Further, while Akihabara is billed as a haven for electronics, video game and anime fanatics, it's easy to forget that it also has schools, offices, grocery stores, a fire department and at least 2 large police stations. It' s a very dense section of a very dense megalopolis.

Why does this matter? Because outside this region by a couple of blocks is Hiyokoya, a maid cafe that, the Wednesday night that I wandered by to determine what kind of place it is, was packed with high school girls. Unfortunately, when I did have a chance to drop by shortly after it opened for dinner at 5 PM Saturday afternoon, the place was deserted.

Yes, Hiyokoya fails to meet the expectations of most entertainment writers. It's an Akihabara maid cafe that isn't within the Akihabara borders, and it's popular with many kinds of people. On the other hand, it's packed with toys and figures from various anime and action shows (like Dragon Ball, Gundam, Ultraman, etc.) and plush UFO Catcher dolls. There are sign cards along the walls with autographs from wrestlers, artists and singers, and over 20 notebooks with drawings from various customers over the years. Anime theme music plays on the sound system, but I didn't recognize any of it, and the maid couldn't name the songs either. It is an otaku haven, and if I understand the online events calendar right, they even attend Komiket sometimes (although, the event calendar doesn't seem to have been updated since 2002).

Hiyokoya operates as a full-service cafe, with a lunch service from noon to 3 PM and dinner from 5 PM to 10 PM. Entrees range from curries and pastas, to ramen and udon (600-1000 yen), with soft drinks (400 yen), beer (450 yen), mixed drinks (350-680 yen) and some desserts (380-680 yen). I got the chicken kimchi udon and a glass of Ebisu beer (980 + 450 yen). If I understand the system right, there's a 500 yen table charge for single customers,
which brought the total for me up to 1930 yen ($22 USD).

There's no added flavor chants, or writing on the food. When I entered, I got the standard "irasshaimasu" greeting and a startled look that anyone - especially a foreigner - would be coming in so early. Although, when I left, the maid walked me to the door and bowed me out. The beer was served in a tall glass, and I received a small bowl of edamame as a "service" appetizer. I spent my time looking at the sketches in the notebooks, some of which were close to pro quality. After about 20 minutes, my kimchi udon arrived, boiling hot and swimming in red pepper soup. Lots of chopped onions, mushrooms, and noodles, with a few pieces of meat. Spicy but not completely overwhelming. Tasted really good, but the maid was just a little too eager to take the bowl back before I had a chance to drink it dry.

I didn't see any mentions of maid photos, but with just the (male) cook and the one maid, there wouldn't have been anyone to take the photo anyway, if the place had been more busy. There is a points card - 1 point per 500 yen. 50 points gets an original shop branded present, and a free 1000 yen dinner item. Since the table charge accounted for 1 point, and they round up, it'd be about 12-13 meals to max the card, which isn't that outlandish.

The maid wasn't overly talkative, so I kept to myself for the most part. But, I expect that other staff work various other nights, and the place may become more interesting later in the evening. Like I mentioned above, there were a number of school girls in talking and reading manga a few nights earlier.

At heart, this is a noodle shop that just happens to have manga and maids in it. The kimchi udon was good, and if they'd just get rid of the table charge I'd make it a regular stop for a beer after work.

Summary:
Name: Hiyokoya
Location: Northwest side of the elevated expressway. From the JR Akihabara station, take the exit heading towards Yodabashi Camera, and continue east one block to the expressway. Turn left and head north about 4 blocks. You'll want to cross the street to get to the right hand side when you have the chance. At the next corner past the Daily convenience store, turn right and go about 2 short blocks and it'll be on your left.
Price: Moderate
Cover: 500 yen for single customers.
Food: Hiyokoya is a full-service cafe with a bar, that just happens to have maids on staff. Dishes include curries, pastas, ramen and udon dishes between 600 and 1000 yen. Soft drinks around 400 yen. Beer for 450 yen. Cocktails for 350 to 680 yen, plus full bottles for 4500 to 6800 yen. A few desserts between 380 and 680 yen. Lunch service from noon to 3 PM. Dinner from 5 PM to 10 PM.
"Love": No love.
Outfits: Black dress with a white apron.
Photos: None.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: Food. I liked the kimchi udon. And lots of anime and manga related items all over the shop.
Recommendation: If you're looking for a place that has lots of food to choose from and toys and autograph boards all over the wall, Hiyokoya is the place for you. It just screams "subculture". If they'd get rid of the table charge, they'd be perfect.

Kaichou wa maid-sama!

2010-04-12T18:56:00.000-07:00

There's a manga that I've been ignoring, mainly because the artwork doesn't appeal to me all that much, called "Kaichou wa maid-sama!" (translated as "The School council president is a maid!", and carried in the U.S. by Tokyopop simply as "Maid-sama!") It's a shoujo comic from LaLa (aimed at girls) which is why I don't really care for it.

However, when I was at Cos-cha, I noticed some advertising sitting on the table next to the cash register and picked it up. It consisted of the flier promoting the anime series, and two paper coasters. There was also a separate map of maid cafes in Akihabara, with the map on one side, and the list of characters from the manga on the other. The map also advertised a special one-day "Cafe Latte Sweets Day" on March 20 in the Donkey building, but I'd missed that. I'm a little surprised that I haven't seen this map anywhere else other than at Cos-Cha. The URL on the map only brings up a limited webpage promoting the map itself plus the event.

Review: Moe Con Cafe

2010-04-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

Where to start. This one's hard. I could begin by mentioning that it was snowing, a watery slush forming on the sidewalk as I walked from the JR station towards the building with Pash Cafe Nagome on the second floor, when the maid stepped out of the elevator of the building as I was walking up, and how she wasn't dressed for standing out in the cold for an hour handing out fliers, thus being more than happy to return back into the building with me in tow. Or, I could say that I was checking off the remaining maid stores on my BIZS map and I was about to drop in on Bar Zeon to see if it was maid related when I discovered that it'd had gone out of business and just been replaced by Moe Con@Cafe two weeks prior and I hadn't noticed it when I'd visited Candy Fruits Strawberry at the same time. Or, I could mention the 500 yen table charge per 30 minutes and how much I hate paying table charges...

I really want to like Moe Con, I really do. It's brand new and shiny. But like Cafe Mermaid next door, there are so many strikes against it that I have to be honest. Cruel, but honest.

The maids were very friendly, and when I arrived there were 4 maids and us 3 customers (me and 2 young guys at one corner table). So, I got to spend a lot of time talking to the one assigned to my table. The first thing I asked about was Moe's "sales point", i.e. - what sets it apart from the other cafes. The first answer is that because it's new, it's still really clean, Plus, it's modeled after @Home. So, it's clean, it's got pretty maids, and you can play board games against them for 3-5 minutes for 500 yen.

Unfortunately, there's a 500 yen table charge for 30 minutes, and since it takes at least that long to get the food, you're looking at 1000 yen just for permission to sit down. On top of that, the food's pricey for what you get, and it's 800 yen for a photo with a maid (500 yen for a shot of just the maid). I ordered a parfait, hot coffee and the maid photo, which came to 2750 yen ($30 USD). If I'd gotten dinner and some drinks it would have been a lot more, making Moe Con one of the most expensive cafes I've been in so far, including Idol Produce. (Actually, Moe Con has bottled Dom on the menu; the white Dom is about $300 USD for one bottle, the rose DOM is almost $900 USD. If you want expensive.)

The menu is fairly limited, with omelet rice, curry rice and pastas for around 1200 yen. A number of soft drinks for 450 yen. Beer and mixed drinks around 650 yen. And a selection of 4 desserts (ice cream, a parfait and some sponge cakes) between 350 and 650 yen. I ordered a hot coffee and an almond pudding parfait, which arrived fairly quickly. The coffee was in a small cup, and the maids happily gave me extra sugar for it. We then went through an added flavor chant (moe moe oshikunare beam), which did work because the coffee was strong and not bitter. The parfait on the other hand came out in a small fluted glass - corn flakes on the bottom, whipped cream in the middle, a small almond pudding on top and some more whipped cream and a cherry, plus some chocolate syrup. I tried explaining how a parfait in the U.S. has a lot more ice cream and fruit in it for the same price, and no corn flakes, but the maids didn't believe me.

(Notepaper being used in place of a points card.)

There's all kinds of things missing that I would have expected to be put in place long before the doors first opened: there's no website yet; they're waiting on getting the points cards; and while they seem to have some kind of a random drawing where you have a chance of winning a free maid photo, or some goods sitting on the shelves behind the bar, there's nothing saying how to participate in the drawing - if you have to win a maid game or just pay for a chance at the drawing. Regarding the stuff on the shelves, there's no printed list of what's on offer, or if any of it is stuff that you can buy outright.

On the other hand, the maids are all smart, attractive and willing to stop and chat. And, there's no shortage of customers. After the first two guys left, a group of 6 young men came in and sat at the counter at the bar. I do have to add that the 5th floor is the non-smoking space. The smokers were on the 4th floor, and I didn't pop my head in to see how crowded it was there. Both floors are a bit small, with tables and counter space for about 20. Given the @Home motif, the walls are white and the space is brightly lit. J-pop plays on the speaker system. And, there's an area between the tables along one wall where the maid photos are taken. My maid spent about 5 minutes touching up our photo, and she looked pretty proud of her work when she brought it back to me.

Like I said up at the beginning, I really want to like Moe Con Cafe. The maids are nice and I enjoyed talking to them. But, they're not ready yet. Being a more expensive spin-off of @Home, and not having any of the other props set up for it, is not enough to make me want to become a repeat customer. Eliminate the table charge, put up the website, bring in the points card, and introduce a line of branded CDs and DVDs (I'd love a Moe Con t-shirt) with the price list printed up next to the cash register, and it'd be a good start. But, even if all of these suggestions were implemented, it'd probably take a few months for the cafe to actually develop a personality of its own, meaning that it may be better to wait for a while before stopping by for a visit.

Summary:
Name: Moe Con Cafe
Location: 4th and 5th floors, above Pash Cafe Nagome and Candy Fruits Strawberry.
Price: High
Cover: 500 lets you stay 30 minutes.
Food: Limited selection of entrees (omelet rice, pasta and curry) around 1200 yen, soft drinks for 450 yen, mixed drinks and beer around 600 yen, and a small selection of desserts (ice cream, parfait and sponge cake) between 350 and 600 yen.
"Love": Added flavor chants, drawings on the foods in catsup or chocolate syrup for an additional 100 yen.
Outfits: White blouse with pink apron and skirt ala @Home.
Photos: 500 yen for just a photo of the maid; 800 yen if you're also in the photo.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: Typical maid cafe, with maid games, photos and drinks.
Recommendation: Right now, Moe Con is too new and is still trying to "find itself". It may be better to wait a little while and try visiting later when it's taken on a personality of its own.

Usagi no Mori, part 2

2010-04-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

When I wrapped up my trip to Usagi no Mori, I was kind of left wondering exactly what the deal was with the points card. Here I was with an application card and the receipt, but I'd have to come back to submit the form and I still didn't know what the cost was per point. So I decided, "what the heck, cute rabbits" and I returned the next day.

(Napkin)

Day 2 was a bit of a let down, actually, Not as many customers (more female customers, though), so there wasn't a stage show this time. The usagi were just as friendly, but not as talkative, and the first dessert I tried to select (the Japanese style cakes) was sold out. I got the custard dessert instead. It looks very nice, and does have a fair bit of fruit, but the portion is very small, compared to one of the dinner entrees for the same price (1000 yen). Fortunately, I was able to get a dessert-drink set for 1300 yen total, which saved me the 500 yen which it would have cost for the custard and hot coffee separately.

When I was done, I took the application card and receipt to the cash register, where I was given the new points card, with 205 points on it. Doing the math, that's 50 yen per point. To get to the first bonus (bandanna card level) is 1000 points, or $220 USD. Kind of comparable with the systems at other cafes. On the other hand, as I was standing at the register, the usagi there started talking to me and asking about my impressions of the forest. Turns out that she'd lived in Vancouver for a few years before returning back to Japan some time ago, and her English was still pretty good. I told her about Maid Runner, and we talked about manga, and the shojo artist that created the characters for Usagi no Mori, for about 10 minutes. That was the main upbeat point for the evening.

Recommendations after the second visit: Go on a busy night, have fun, and skip the desserts. Spend the money instead on a plush usagi doll (1000 yen at the lobby counter). And enjoy the cute rabbits.

Review: Usagi no Mori

2010-04-01T19:36:00.000-07:00

"No smoking or photography while in the forest, because the rabbits are shy and afraid of fire, and will quickly run away."

Welcome to Hand Maid Cafe - Usagi no Mori (rabbit forest), a newly remodeled cafe located directly on the left side of Chuu-ou Dori a few blocks past Kandamyojin Dori, on the 6th floor of the Akiba Place building. When you step out of the elevator, you're immediately in a small gift shop filled with plush rabbit dolls, CDs and Kitkat bars with photos of the maids on the boxes. The maids are all referred to as "usagi-chan" (small rabbit), and wear big floppy ears and fluffy black tails along with their black dresses and white apron and trim.

Around the corner is the entrance to the restaurant itself, a large, softly lit space capable of seating 100 people, with wood paneling, and a large fake tree growing out of the wall behind the bar. Branches of the tree weave through the metal rafters of the ceiling. A large stage near the front is used for maid photos, and for periodic song numbers performed by the staff. The opposite wall has a large plate glass window opening onto the kitchen, where you can watch the maids preparing the food.

The staff are all friendly, and if they're not too busy, are willing to stop and chat. At 7:00 on a Tuesday evening the place was relatively quiet with only 20 customers (at many maid cafes, 20 people would be considered a packed house). One table had 3 female office workers (OLs, or "office ladies"), and there were 2 other foreigners sitting at the bar; most everyone else were salarymen. But, there were close to 10 maids on duty, keeping the staff-to-customer ratio pretty high. At about 6:40, two of the maids got up on the stage and started dancing to a light j-pop number that essentially was a thank-you for coming to the cafe and ordering the delicious food. A second song promoted several of the dishes from the point of view of a pretty rabbit talking about her busy day. The dances were pose-heavy j-pop influenced things with lots of hand and arm movement but very little actual dancing.

The rules card is in English and Japanese. The menus are Japanese only but have lots of pictures of the dishes. The maids can speak some English, but would rather answer questions in Japanese if possible. As a family-style restaurant, the entrees include the standard pastas and curries, as well as rice bowls and okonomiyaki. There's no table charge, so the food prices are all higher as a result. On the other hand, the serving sizes are also a little bigger. Entrees for 1000 to 1400 yen, soft drinks for 800 yen, mixed drinks for 900 to 100 yen, and custards and ice cream parfaits for 1000 to 1200 yen.

I ordered an ice coffee, and spaghetti with meat sauce. The coffee came out first, and the maid poured in syrup and cream from metal pourers (as opposed to just giving me a stick of sugar or a cup of creamer), but instead of the 'nyan' sound some cafes would make you use when you got enough cream, here it was just "stop" when the coffee was the way you wanted it. Fortunately, they do let you take photos of the food. The spaghetti came out in a heart-shaped bowl, with the sauce in a roughly rabbit-like shape, and the maid sprinkled on cheese to form the eyes. There was also a small salad with ginger-soy dressing and a small cup of onion soup. All of the food was good, but the coffee was watery. You'll probably want to stick with sodas, or the cocktails, which are less likely to get wrong.

I also ordered a maid photo. Along with the 1100 yen meal, and 800 yen drink, the total came to 2400 yen, which was fairly reasonable. The maid took me up on the stage right away (rather than waiting towards the end of the meal like at most places) and suggested the heart pose. Later, she shyly approached my table with the touched up photo, asking if it was acceptable. When I said "yes", she looked obviously relieved. No one else got photos while I was there.

There is a points card, but you have to fill out a membership card to get it, and you have to bring the completed form with you on your next visit. So, what's shown here is the front of the form card. Not exactly sure of the yen per point ratio. At 1000 points you go to "Bandana card" level, and get a free Usagi no Mori telephone card. At 2000 points it's the "Secret Menu card" level and you can order food and drinks from the secret menu. At 3000 points is the "message card" which gives you a personalized phone greeting and some other things. At 5000 points is a CD of the maids, and at 10,000 points is a hand-made bento box from the maid of your choice.

On the way out, I decided to pick up one of the Kitkats for 400 yen ($4.40 USD). It's just a regular Kitkat with 2 packaged bars, but I wanted it for the photo. There are about 10 different packages, each with photos of different maids. The "L<=>R" logo is supposed to represent the left and right hands of the maids making the food for you. The mascot is one of the most ill-tempered rabbits I've seen in a while.

Overall, I had a lot of fun. Usagi no Mori is a family-style restaurant, so it appeals to a different crowd than similar maid cafes, but isn't as "adult-themed" as Kokumaru Milk. Since there's no table charge, it's not all that expensive if you just get a drink and an entree. Any more than that and the total will skyrocket, though. On the other hand, there are menu items tailored for groups, such as the cocktail special with several drinks and a maid photo for 3300 yen. So, if you do go with friends, you can bring the prices down a little by ordering in bulk.

Summary:
Name: Usagi no Mori
Location: On the left side of Chuu-ou Dori, 6th floor of the Akiba Place building, a few short blocks north of Kandamyojin Dori.
Price: Moderate high.
Cover: No table charge
Food: A wide variety of dinner plates, including the standard pastas and curries, but also okonomiyaki and rice bowls for 1000-1400 yen; soft drinks for 800 yen and mixed drinks for 900-1000 yen; and desserts including custards and parfaits for 1000 to 1200 yen.
"Love": No special added flavor chants. Standard "welcome master" greetings when you arrive.
Outfits: Black dress with white apron and trim, and floppy black rabbit ears and tail.
Photos: 500 yen.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: A distinct rabbit in a forest theme. Lots of branded goods for sale in the lobby, and live song and dance routines every so often.
Recommendation: Usagi no Mori is a fun family restaurant that doesn't take itself seriously. The maids refer to each other as "rabbits", and you can watch them preparing the meals through the window to the kitchen. Because there's no table charge, the prices of the individual food items are higher. But, it's worth visiting just to watch the usagi dances on the stage. Recommended.

majucarons

2010-03-29T17:41:00.000-07:00

While not necessarily maid-related, majucarons is located in with a number of maid cafes, and as you walk around you're bound to see the eye-catching artwork at some point. Actually, this is a fortune-telling shop, up on the 5th floor of a building with *very* steep steps and no elevator. You can have your fortune read a number of ways, including using a pendulum, tarot cards, and so on. Prices range from 1000 to 8000 yen ($11 to $88 USD). Even if you're not a believer, you can't go wrong with a witch this cute.

Review: Idol Produce Cafe

2010-03-25T18:11:00.000-07:00

One thing about Akiba is that you can not simply say "oh yeah, now I've seen it all", because there will always be something that you never expected, and which you'll wonder "why didn't I think of that?" just around the corner. Case in point - Idol Produce Cafe.

According to the AkibaToday page, this was originally Akiba Tenkyu, which opened last May, and then underwent a redesign last fall, to reopen in December as Idol Produce Cafe (IPC). The premise is simple - the staff (all young women between 18 and 22 or so) are working to become j-pop idols, singing, dancing and talking on the radio. The customers then sign on as producers and lend encouragement to the staff. There are different events every day, so check the events page on the website before going to see if it's something you want to watch. IPC is somewhat pricey, since along with the 500 yen table charge there's also a one-time 500 yen membership fee to get your "producer's badge" and lanyard. But, you can get some discounts if you have a cell phone that handles the 2D barcodes for visiting their mobile site.

IPC is just north of Mai:lish. From the JR Akihabara station, take the north exit from Denki Town, go up to Kandamyojin Dori right in front of the UDX building, and then turn left and go past Chuu-Ou Dori to the next major intersection (you'll see Coco's restaurant across the street). Turn right and go half a block north, past Mai:lish. It's on the right, on the 7th floor. Look for the sign board out front. Actually, the 7th floor is just the kitchen and a waiting area. The cafe itself is up the stairs on the 8th floor.

The cafe is kind of cramped, with three 4-person tables near the stage for non-smoking, and another couple tables for smoking at the back of the room. New "producers" get to sit at the tables. There's counter seating at the bar for 4-6 "seasoned" producers. When I was there, the stage was set up for a 3-person live maid radio show, which wasn't scheduled to start until 8:00 PM, well after I had to be at work for my 7:30 start time. Other events include singing and so on.

There weren't many people when I arrived at 6 PM, just 3 at the bar and another 2 at one table (all young guys), but there were 4 or 5 "idols" on staff, which meant that the idols had time to talk to me. My idol very carefully went through the system, explaining the 500 yen table charge for 1 hour, needing to place minimum orders per hour, and using a cell phone to sign up on the mobile website to get my producer's membership badge. Unfortunately, I have a pre-paid cell phone, and I'm blocked from accessing the net or using 2D barcodes with it (a fact that I'm increasingly unhappy with, but it's cheaper than getting a 2-year contract), so my idol set up my membership manually. She and a second idol also explained the concept of the cafe to me, and showed various magazines and newspaper articles the cafe has appeared in.

The menu and system explanation card are all in Japanese, and the idols didn't really speak English. However, they're located at the outskirts of the Akiba district far from the main crowds on Chuu-ou Dori, so they rarely get tourists or non-native speakers. Which kind of played in my favor, because both idols wanted to learn some English. I had nothing better to do, and kept busy by teaching them a handful of fixed phrases they could use right away (welcome to the cafe, can I take your order, here's your change). I was a little disappointed to not get any discounts because of it, though, although I wasn't really expecting to.

Regarding discounts, one minus against the shop is that they didn't honor the free drink coupon. When I arrived at the 7th floor, there was a table next to the elevator with some free advertising for some "girl capture" video games, and a flier for the cafe. I grabbed one of each and noticed that the flier had a coupon for a free soft drink. When I was placing my order, I asked if I could use the coupon and was told "yes". But, at the end, I was charged for the drink anyway. I knew that the bill was on the high side, but I was having trouble completely understanding the pricing system and didn't want to bother wading through the itemized breakdown at the time and I let it slide.

IPC has all of the standard cafe entrees, including curry rice and omelet rice, plus other dishes in the 700-1200 yen range; soft drinks between 500-1000 yen; ice creams and cakes for 500-1200 yen; and mixed drinks around 700 yen. You can also get alcohol by the bottle between 3000 and 6000 yen (you can leave "your" bottle at the bar and come back to drink from it later). I decided to get the cheapest thing on the menu - curry rice, and an ice coffee. The coffee came out quickly, in a tall glass, and the idol neatly placed a spoon, and one syrup and creamer next to it. The coffee wasn't bad, but became watery because of all the ice fairly quickly. Some time later, the curry came out in a medium-sized bowl. There was no added flavor chant or drawing on the food. Normally, curry can have large chunks of potatoes, carrots and beef or chicken. This time, it was mostly just rice on one side of the bowl, and the curry sauce on the other side, with a couple small pieces of beef mixed in. 700 yen each for the coffee and curry, plus with the table charge came to 1900 yen normally ($21 USD), but with the new members fee was 2400 yen ($26-$27). Since the drink was supposed to be free, and there was nothing happening on the stage, that's 2400 yen for just a medium-sized curry. Ouch. ;-(

There's nothing on the menu regarding maid photos, and they don't have the maid games here. I'm not exactly sure how the points are recorded, since I just have a paper members card and the bronze and gold cards seem to be plastic. It's 1000 yen per point, and it's 25 points to bump up to the first next level. When you hit gold, you can get a maid photo with the idol of your choice. The levels are bronze, gold and platinum, but there's not much explanation on the website for what each one gives you. If you really like coming here, it's worth getting the member's card and going for the perks, but at roughly $11 per point, $275 USD is a bit much just to pick up a photo.

The staff at IPC was very friendly when I was there, but you really do need to be able to speak some Japanese. And if you like watching young women in school uniforms singing on stage (depending on the event night) then this is the place for you. Just be aware that this dinner theater is not going to be cheap.

Summary:
Name: Idol Produce Cafe
Location: On 452, just north of Coco's restaurant. From the JR Akihabara station, go west to Chuu-ou Dori, turn right to Kandamyojin Dori, turn left and go down to the next major intersection (about 2 long blocks), turn right again and IPC will be on the right about half a block down, just past Mai:lish. On the 7th floor.
Price: Moderately high.
Cover: 500 yen lets you stay 1 hour, and there's a one-time 500 yen fee for the membership card.
Food: Standard cafe entrees like curry rice and omelet rice in the 700-1200 yen range, desserts (cakes and ice cream for 500-1000 yen) and drinks (500-1000 for soft drinks; 700 for mixed drinks; 1000-6000 for bottled alcohol).
"Love": No added flavor chants. Basically, "welcome home, producer" and "please return soon, producer" chants when you arrive and leave.
Outfits: Light pink blouse with plaid bow tie and skirt college girl's uniform.
Photos: Nothing on the menu. Maid photos are available if you get enough points on the points card.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: You get to play "idol producer", where you support and encourage one of the staff to become a j-pop idol.
Recommendation: This one's a little tricky. The food's pricier than normal, plus there's the table charge and the 500 yen charge to become a "producer". The main draw is to watch the events, but there's not something going on all the time every night. Check the events calendar first. However, if you want true "Akiba dinner theater", with singing or a live radio show, this is one place to find it.

Maid-Related Products, 4

2010-03-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

Hello Kitty is used for advertising the oddest things. I mentioned the Maid-Kitty caramels before. Here, Kitty in the same outfit is used for canned ramen. There's a Jason's discount store near me that often carries products that didn't sell during their promotional period, generally for 30-50% of the original price. I got this can for 50 yen (55 cents US). And it's about as bad as you'd expect old canned ramen to be. The soup smells a bit musky, and the noodles are gummy and too starchy. But, at least Kitty is cute in her uniform...

Review: iDOL BOXX (DiCE)

2010-03-18T18:08:00.000-07:00

iDoL BoXX (DiCe) is a tricky place to find. The only reason I even knew about it was because of the fliers I'd get occasionally from the maids standing on Chuu-ou Dori. I'd walked by the place a number of times without noticing anything interesting in the area (it's right behind the library near the Buddhist school). I'd only started thinking about going there because the BIZS map I'm using for marking off places I've visited had the name listed but without any mention of what the place was. Even with the map, I walked by the entrance several times before I finally realized what I was looking at. Ignoring the fact that they even have a sign board out front. The reason it's so hard to find is that it's down a narrow stairway into the basement alongside the building's loading ramp.

Actually, iDoL BoXX isn't a maid cafe per se. It's a j-pop idol performance space where the staff sings or dances on the stage at the back of the room. The space itself is maybe 20 by 80 feet, with wooden tables and bench seating along the right wall, and counter seating at the bar along the left. You enter the room at the near end from the stairs. Total seating is maybe 40 people, but during the big events the tables are taken out to make more room for the audience. The walls are an off-white plaster, and there are posters taped up advertising food specials and upcoming events. The next big event will be the 1-year anniversary on March 26, although the twins (two of the staff members) are celebrating their birthday just before that.

iB opens for the evening at 6 PM, and I arrived 15 minutes after that, when the staff was still setting up, and they acted like they were a little unready to let people in yet. But, I was shown to a table, and was the only one there then. A little later, one other guy came in but he left after less than half an hour, only getting something small as a snack. I was told that normally the singing starts at 8 PM and that repeats on the hour, but that if enough people came in by 7 they'd be willing to do one of the shows. (Didn't happen by the time I left.)

I wanted to get something to eat, but all they had was izakaya-style finger foods in the 350-600 yen range. My maid suggested that I get the chicken rice bowl special, and I decided to accompany that with a coke and a maid photo. The maid photos are of just the maid, for 500 yen. You have to fill up the points card to get a shot of you and the maid together. And that's 20 points, at 1 point per 500 yen. 3 full cards gets you a photo with the entire staff; 5 cards is a "present" from the maid of your choice; and 10 cards is a special from the entire staff.
While I was waiting for the food to come out, the two bartenders continued their set up, and 2 of the 3 waitresses moved boxes around and finalized their preparations. None of them had special outfits on, except for the t-shirts advertising the bar. The 3rd waitress, "my" maid, stayed at the table and chatted with me. At one point, she started drawing a self-portrait, which came out looking really nice.

The chicken dish turned out to be a large bowl of rice coated with lettuce and then covered in large chunks of chicken. Not a lot of extra flavors, but with a little black pepper turned out pretty good, and it was filling. It was accompanied by a small bowl of rice crackers and a cup of miso soup. Along with the large coke, 500 yen table charge and the 500 yen maid photo, the total was 2700 yen ($30 USD). Kind of at the high end of the scale, but at least they didn't skimp on the food.

Be careful if you ask for a maid photo. Normally, these are referred to as "chekki", which is the sound the polaroid camera makes when the shutter closes. I asked for a "chekki"; the maid thought I meant "jerky", and shouted the order to the bar. I'm not sure what the reaction would have been if I'd scanned in the "maid jerky" for this blog. Any way, the maid asked if I wanted her to pose at the tables or on the floor near the door. I didn't realize that it'd be just the picture of her so I didn't specify either way. Later, she sat on the floor and the manager took the shot. The maid then spent several minutes touching it up, giving it to me just before I left.

At some point, I'm going to go to a "live bar" at a time when I can actually see the live performance. But, I think I had a much better time talking to the staff for an hour before the rest of the audience came in. They were friendly, attentive, and willing to put up with my broken Japanese. They do speak some English, but there's no English menu, and they'll stick with Japanese if given the chance. Overall, I had fun, but it would have been better if the price was 25% lower.

Summary:
Name: iDOL BOXX (DiCE)
Location: Just east of 452, on the south side of the library, in the basement of the white building with the big open loading dock.
Price: Moderately high.
Cover: 500 yen lets you stay 1 hour. After that, it's a minimum of one order per hour.
Food: During the evening, the main food items are finger food sampler dishes ala an izakaya (300-600 yen per dish), and the emphasis is on the mixed drinks (700-1000 yen) and beer (700 yen). They were promoting the chicken rice bowl for 1200 yen. Soft drinks for 500 yen.
"Love": No special chants or drawing on the food.
Outfits: No special outfits when I was there. Although the staff were all wearing iDoL BoXX t-shirts.
Photos: 500 yen for just a photo of the maid. Filling up a points card gets you a photo with you and the maid together.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: Live song and dance performances on the stage during the evenings, on the hour.
Recommendation: This one's a toss up. I arrived at 6 PM, just after they opened and the place was deserted. Which led one of the maids to spend the entire hour talking with me. Going later would allow you to watch the song performances, but with more people in the audience you're going to be pretty much ignored by the staff.

Maid-Related Products, 3

2010-03-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

Let's start out with the stranger of the two maid-related food items this time. This is kind of a themed product from a company that has used similar characters on other packages. The snack here is a "Moe Choco Cake Bar".

Actually, it's kind of a tiramisu-like thick pancake cookie bar with with chocolate added. It sold for about 600 yen, meaning that each of the 6 bars were worth $1.10 USD. It was a little too dry and the chocolate flavor didn't stand out all that much. You get this one for the maid characters on the packaging.

I've mentioned Maid Club before. They're a souvenir shop just off Chuu-ou Dori, near the JR Akihabara station. They have their own brand of chocolate-filled cookies.

Again, the cookies are too dry, but at least now the flavor of the filling stands out more. These are good with milk or ice coffee. A couple cookies per pack, 8 packs per box, for about $5. A better deal than the chocolate bars above.

Review: Candy Fruits Strawberry

2010-03-11T17:11:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm writing this review from memory one week after visiting the cafe, so it's necessarily going to be a little sketchy and shorter than normal. I'm not sure when/if I'll be able to get the original review off the drive of my old PC.

Candy Fruits is one of the more eclectic chains in Akihabara, consisting of a glasses shop (Candy Fruits Optical), a reflex shop (Candy Fruits Reflex Club) and the cafe - Candy Fruits Strawberry. I've mentioned the first two previously (CFO is near Little TVG, and CFRC is on the third floor of the Schatzkiste cafe). It'd taken me a while to track down Strawberry, but it turns out I'd seen it before - it's in the basement of the building housing Pash Cafe Nagomi, near Mermaid. Just go straight west from the JR Akihabara station, past Chuu-ou Dori 2.5 blocks, and veer slightly north towards Kandamyojin Dori. Look for the Pash Cafe sign and go down the stairs rather than up.

Strawberry is, at its heart,a dress-up shop. The room is long and narrow, with school desks at the front end for seating 10 people, and a few more tables along one wall to hold another 6-8 people. At the back are rows of clothes racks holding a wide variety of uniforms and costumes. Female customers can play dress-up for 1000 yen, and have their picture taken as they like. Or, for 1000 yen, you can spend three minutes taking photos of a maid in the outfit of your choice with your own camera. The front end of the room also has a small couch for posing for photos, or you can take the shots at your table.

To hide the fact that you're underground, the cafe has fake window boxes in the walls showing various outdoors pictures, and a monitor wall plays footage of trains entering and leaving a small station. With the bright lighting and faux external views, it's easy to forget that it's night outside.

The menu has the standard cafe fare - omelet rice and curry, as well as some rice bowl dishes. Set entrees are 1100-1200 yen. Drinks are 500-600, and mixed drinks become available after 6 PM. Ice cream is 500 yen, and sponge cake desserts are 600-1100 yen. I decided to get a deluxe cheese cake drink set for 900 yen, plus a maid photo for 600 yen, coming to 1500 yen total. There's no table charge, which is good, but it does mean that individual menu items will cost a bit more. The hot cafe au lait was a very strong roast, and complemented the large slice of chocolate sponge cake. The cake itself was mostly air, but the 2 layers of frosting were fairly thick and almost cream cheese-like. A small bow tie was drawn in strawberry syrup on the plate, and that added a little fruit flavor to the dessert. Overall, not bad for a maid cafe. No added favor chants or requests for drawing on the food, though.

For the photo, I had the choice of standing near the clothes racks, or sitting on the couch. The maid immediately grabbed a plush bear from the large box of props near by, and we went without any of the standard cutesy poses. Shortly after, one of the other customers, a Japanese guy who spoke some English well, and his foreign friend (maybe German) who spoke good Japanese, paid the 1000 yen for the 3 minute photo shoot. The German sat on the couch with the maid and the cameraman (camera was worth at least $1500) went crazy, taking shots every 10-20 seconds. Then they traded places, with the German and the maid taking turns on the camera.

The cafe was never really crowded, but there was a steady stream of customers, with about 8 people max at one point. Customers included two women that were really well-dressed, some businessmen, and a couple college guys. The maids were friendly, talking to the regulars, but mostly leaving me on my own.

There is a points card. 1 point per 1000 yen. For every 5 points, you can pull a piece of paper out of the drawing box to see if you can win something. I'm assuming that prizes include a free drink, dessert or maid photo. Strawberry is relaxed and has a fun, lighthearted atmosphere. I enjoyed myself.

Summary:
Name: Candy Fruits Strawberry
Location: Basement of the building with Pash Cafe Nagome
Price: Moderate
Cover: No cover.
Food: Curry, omelet rice, rice bowls, etc. Soft drinks and mixed drinks after 6 PM.
"Love": Some writing on the foods in catsup or syrup.
Outfits: No standardized uniforms.
Photos: 600 yen for a maid photo, or 1000 yen to use your own camera to take photos for 3 minutes.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: This is a cosplay cafe, where you can request the maids to wear the kind of outfit you'd like.If you're female, you can try putting on something from the racks of outfits lining the back wall.
Recommendation: For a "real" Akihabara experience, with fake trains and cosplay, Candy Fruits Strawberry is worth the visit.

Hina Matsuri

2010-03-08T17:12:00.000-08:00

Competition between the maid cafes is fierce, but you really don't see that on the surface. When you walk down Chuu-ou Dori from the JR Akihabara station, there'll be 10 or 15 maids on either side of the street, often standing close by each other, trying to hand out fliers to their cafes. Generally, the pedestrians ignore them as they shuffle by, heads bowed down, staring at their shoes. Few of the maids succeed at getting anyone to take the fliers, and if they do, there's little interest in actually going to the cafes. If one person does choose to hit a cafe, that's one place with one more customer, while the other places go empty. So, the competition's not on the street. It's in the cafes themselves. And the fierceness surfaces in the ways each place decides to hold events.

The big holidays are pretty obvious. Most cafes will have a Christmas special, with the maids wearing red stocking caps and maybe red dress uniforms, and Halloween with its accompanying cosplay. The lesser known, more traditional Japanese holidays also have their own place on the maid calendars. Specifically, I'm talking about Hina Matsuri, March 3, with its display of little dolls on a tiered platform (the "hina"; "matsuri" means "festival"). When I visited Idol Produce Cafe on Mar. 2 (to be reviewed later), I noticed on the placemat calendar that there was going to be a Hina Matsuri event the next day. Wanting to know what that would entail, I dropped by again on my way to work.

In the case of IPC, the event was a little too low-key. One idol wore a traditional kimono while the others were in the standard school outfits. The menu listed the Hina set - a bag of sugar candy and a one-cup bottle of sweet sake for 1000 yen ($11 USD). While I was there for the next hour, nothing much happened. On the other hand, this time, there were two really well-dressed female customers at one table, one of whom was a regular. The other 6 people were young men, either job seekers, or college kids.

I was told that the idols would be singing on stage at 8 PM, but again, that was after my starting work time of 7:30. I did decide to get a dessert - sweet pancakes with drawings in chocolate syrup and a small scoop of ice cream. When the one idol arrived with the plate, all the others started squealing "kawaii" ("how cute") over the drawings. The pancakes were pretty standard, so nothing special there. 850 yen + the 500 yen cover.

Bottom line: most cafes will compete by offering different events throughout the year, and especially during the holidays. But, not all of the events will be that interesting. Moral: pick a cafe that you like, frequent it as you like, and wait until they have an event that you really want to see. Otherwise, going to a cafe at random could end up being disappointing (regardless of how fierce the competition is for your money). Or, don't go on a night when you have to work when the event takes place.

Turning Japanese Maids

2010-03-04T16:55:00.000-08:00

(Friday's regular cafe review is on hold until I get my new PC.)

The Metropolis mentioned this video in their March 5th edition of their Multimedia section. Youtube has at least three versions uploaded as of Mar. 4, and the one mentioned hit the web on Feb. 27. That one had 10,283 views by the 4th, the one uploaded to the Japanese youtube site had 14,000 views, and the third version was only 200 views.

Edit: Youtube is cracking down on these videos and deleting them from their site. You can try doing a search on "turning Japanese Dunst" and see if someone uploaded it again, or see if you can find the home page for it. Some screen caps at gammasquad.

It's a painful (for me) to watch music video of Kirsten Dunst's "Turning Japanese" cover (she does realize what the phrase "turning Japanese" supposedly means, right? And even if she doesn't, is she really singing to a female lover?) I liked the original Vapors version of the song; Kirsten's... not so much. But she is kind of cute, and I'm finding it interesting trying to determine if her tongue is pierced.

However, this video is notable for one thing in specific - if you've never been to Akihabara before, it does capture the essence (in part, at least) of the place. And, it's got maids. And that's ok.

Points for the number of cafes you recognize represented in the video (the main indoor location was at Mononopu).

Moe-haku

2010-03-02T17:54:00.000-08:00

I'm still waiting for my new PC to arrive, so I can't touch up my photos for the next cafe review yet. In the meantime, here's a little something to tide you over for the moment.

Both the Hiragana Times (a magazine for helping learners of English and Japanese) and the Metropolis have run short comments on Moe-haku, what's being billed as the first moe-only convention. The website's only in Japanese, but it does have some nice photos of "moe" characters. The expo's being held at Makuhari Messe center in Chiba (east of Tokyo closer to Narita airport) for one day, March 21st. Entry fee is 2000 yen ($22 USD). There's lots of emphasis on itasha and itansha (cars and bikes dressed up with big stickers of anime and video game characters), but there will also be voice actors, cosplay events and photo sessions. There may even be a maid or two in there somewhere.

Out to lunch

2010-02-25T17:52:00.001-08:00

I apologize. Maid Runner will be taking a short break until I can get a new computer. The screen on my laptop died and I don't have any way to get to my pictures on that hard drive, or to edit photos. Sorry about the inconvenience.

at_Sweet, revisited

2010-02-22T17:32:00.000-08:00

Shortly after my first visit to @Sweet, I figured that it might be fun to go back again, assuming that there were still no customers and the same maids were on staff. Plus, it was just before Christmas, and they were advertising a Christmas event special (dessert and some items). It's just that I've had a lot of other things to write about up until now, and this is the first chance to get around to writing about it.

Unfortunately, the staff had changed and (for me) I wasn't the only one there at that time. So I didn't get the special treatment I'd had the first time. Instead, I just got the Christmas dessert special, with milk coffee and the fudge cupcake and ice cream.

The cupcake was a little drier than what I've had before elsewhere, but it still had the molten chocolate center, which was good. And the ice cream "reindeer" was cute, too. The milk coffee was one of the "milk drink" flavors they had that night. The idea is to create a crushed ice with frozen coffee, green tea, or strawberry juice, put the ice in the bottom of the glass and fill it with milk. It's pretty good, but it does weaken the flavor of the coffee. You're basically drinking slightly flavored milk, which is fine if you like milk.

The dessert set included a laminated card, which I could select from a stack of 5 different people and poses. The back of this one for Kana says, "best 3 - Kana likes hamburg (minced steak)".

Review: Hogushi Chaya Kasumi

2010-02-18T17:41:00.000-08:00

Hogushi Chaya Kasumi is a combined reflexology shop and maid cafe, on the second floor of the building 1.5 blocks west of Chuu-ou Dori on Kandamyojin Dori (just beyond @Sweet and the maid-themed UFO Catcher shop, and across the street from the @Home cafes). The room is long and narrow, barely wide enough to have rows of wooden 2-person tables and chairs along each wall. The front end of the room is curtained off for the reflexology sessions. In that room, there are three chairs, easily visible from the cafe so there's no "hanky-panky" going on, although no one had come in for the reflex while I was there so I couldn't watch. According to the price sheet, you can get reflex sessions for 30, 40 or 50 minutes, and some of the packages include the tea service.

"Hogushi" means "soften" and "chaya" is "tea shop". "Kasumi" is a female name. So, essentially we have a relaxation center named Kasumi that offers green tea. The rest of the room is dedicated to the cafe, with 11 tables for about 22 customers. The walls are starting to turn a dingy off-white, but it's still not too distracting. No one was smoking while I was there, but I can't say if the entire cafe is non-smoking. There are a couple Edo-style paintings of women in kimono on the walls, and a couple bookshelves near the kitchen holding fliers for other cafes, plus reading material if you want it. One thing I found interesting is that one of the books was a collection of early girl's magazine illustrations from the 1920's and 30's, published by the Yayoi Museum. Some of this artwork also appeared in the Shojo no Tomo (Girl's Friend) magazine exhibit held at the Yayoi last Fall, and that I wrote up in my History of Manga series on my ThreeStepsOverJapan blog. I haven't seen this book anywhere else.

The maids are dressed up in modified miniskirt kimono, similar to those worn at @Home's Hana cafe. They also have an interesting variant on the slippers, which are made up to look like the front portion of a tabi sock (split toe sock) attached to a traditional Japanese thong slipper. The maids themselves are friendly and willing to talk to the customers between orders, although they didn't spend that much time with me. There were 6 other customers while I was there, all male, but a mix of artists, businessmen, general workers, and one older guy that was dressed up really elegantly in a fedora and 3-piece suit with pocket watch. All of them talked with each other as well as with the maids, making for a very informal atmosphere that's unusual in Tokyo. Several of them seemed to be regulars there.

The food is an eclectic mix of curry rice, onigiri (rice balls wrapped in seaweed) and gyuudon (boiled beef over rice in a bowl), between 500 and 1000 yen. The focus is on the green tea service, at 700 yen, but I didn't see anyone ordering that. Other soft drinks are 500 yen, beer for 600 yen, and cocktails for 800 to 1000 yen. The desserts range from anmitsu (a combination of agar jelly cubes, mixed fruit and bean paste), pancakes, sponge cakes, ice cream and parfaits, between 500 and 1000 yen. I ordered the deluxe parfait for 950 yen. The drink sets include hot or cold green tea for an additional 200 yen. I got the hot tea. Along with the 500 yen maid photo and the 500 table charge, the meal came to 2150 yen.

There is an English version of the menu, but it doesn't list everything the Japanese menu does. After about 30 minutes, my order came out on a nice lacquer tray, with the tea served in a traditional ceramic mug. I really wanted to take a photo of it, but was told "sorry, no cameras". The maid seemed apologetic at turning me down, and returned with a copy of the BIZS magazine with its mention of the cafe inside, as consolation. The parfait consisted of some ajar jelly, sponge cake squares drizzled with chocolate syrup, a scoop of green tea ice cream, some corn flakes at the bottom, some brown sugar syrup, and a couple pieces of canned fruit. It was a little small for the 950 yen price tag, but did taste really good (assuming that you like the flavors of matcha (green tea powder) and Japanese brown sugar, which I do). The green tea also went well with the dessert.

There are a couple variants on the maid photo, with one or more maids. Plus, there's kind of an "idol" atmosphere in that they have sets of bromides (glossy photos) for 1000 yen each. You can buy them individually or in sets. I went with the standard 500 yen maid photo. After the meal was done, I was brought to the back near the cash register, where they clipped a spotlight covered by tissue paper to the side of the register, and we did the classic heart pose against the back wall. After the shot, the maid disappeared to frill up the photo. Because I was sitting near the front of the shop with the entrance way between me and the register, I couldn't tell if anyone else had gotten a photo, but it kind of looked like 2 people had.

The points card is 500 yen per point plus one more point for a "rain day" (it was raining that day). Every 10 points seems to be good for free menu items, although the points card doesn't actually explain the details (i.e., a free drink versus a free entree). The card seems to be one of the better deals in Akihabara, in that it looks like a 10% ROI (5000 yen spent would get a 500 yen drink) compared to places that are closer to 1 or 2%.

When I left, the maid walked me to the elevator and chatted while we waited. When the elevator came, she gave me a really deep bow and asked me to come back again. In terms of feeling like they wanted me as a return customer, Kasumi was a lot more outgoing than many of the other places I've been to recently, and I did enjoy myself there.

Summary:
Name: Hogushi Chaya Kasumi
Location: Kandamyuojin Dori, 1.5 blocks west of Chuu-ou Dori, just past @Sweet, second floor.
Price: Moderate.
Cover: 500 lets you stay 1 hour.
Food: A selection of semi-traditional Japanese foods, including the green tea set, onigiri (rice balls wrapped in seaweed), and anmitsu (agar jelly with fruits and/or bean paste). Entrees are in the 500-1000 yen range; soft drinks and tea are 500 to 700 yen; mixed drinks between 800 and 1000 yen; and desserts between 500 and 1000 yen.
"Love": Drawings on some of the desserts in chocolate syrup.
Outfits: A modified kimono mini-skirt similar to the ones worn at @Home's Hana tea room.
Photos: 500 yen. Bromides (glossy photos of the maids only) for 1000 yen; more for sets of multiple photos.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: Kasumi is a maid cafe and reflexology shop. You can get hand, foot and scalp reflexology sessions for 3000 to 5000 yen. On the cafe side, you can get traditional Japanese green tea, various agar jelly-based Japanese desserts, and rice balls. There's a kind of "idol" element in that the maids have posed for glossy photos, and you can get just one, or the whole set.
Recommendation: Kasumi has kind of a "old home" feel at times, when various regular customers come in and chat with each other or with the maids. In the evening, customers are as likely to order a beer as they are green tea. Recommended.

A digression

2010-02-15T17:03:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned before how easy it is to suddenly stumble across a new maid cafe to visit when you're not planning on it. But sometimes, you just can't win.

As I've also mentioned, I work in Akihabara teaching English on Tuesday nights, so I'll usually try timing my weekly visits to the cafes on Tuesdays between 5:30 PM and 7:15 PM. Since most cafes can take 30-45 minutes to serve the food, I try to arrive at least by 6:15 so I can get out by 7.

Last week, I got into Akiba at 5:45, and I went up to Chuu-ou Dori from the train station, partly thinking that I might go to the newest Mai Dreamin' cafe, or maybe go on to Misty Heaven. As I walked north, I didn't see Mai Dreamin' Akiba, so I continued on to Misty Heaven because I'd been putting it off and I figured it was time to get it out of the way. Again, like previously, Misty Heaven had no customers. But this time, it also had no name on the door. Misty Heaven is at the far northwest corner of the Akiba district, just around the block from Mai:lish and Akiba Gakuen Grade 2, and it's been empty each I passed by. Deciding to keep moving on, I aimed back towards the train station when, after 2 blocks, I reached Moe Maiden. I hadn't been there yet, so I went up the stairs and just as I stepped through the door, I realized that it's a reflexology shop.

(Moe Maiden)

Reflex shops give massages for $30 to $60 and are generally strictly non-sexual. Most don't serve food. Moe Maiden had a couple small curtained tables near the windows, and a table for dispensing chocolate bars and tea in the waiting area. The one maid was wearing a black dress and white apron, and looked really cute. I didn't want to spend $30 just for a reflex session, so I asked a couple questions for a blog review, and the owner came out to show me a laminated card in English with the rules on it (first rule in big letters is "sexually harassing the maids is illegal under Japanese law", which he apparently wanted mentioned in the review). In any event, if you want reflexology, Moe Maiden looks pretty good.

(Queen Heart and Bar with Garcon)

I then tried heading towards Chuu-ou Dori, which took me past Queen Heart. I got up to the 4th floor and just as I was opening the door, one of the staff came out carrying boxes. She told me that they're strictly a bar and don't open until 7:30. Bar with Garcon is on the 5th floor, but I couldn't hear any sounds coming down from the stairs and I wasn't ready to go to a butler bar. So I went back out to the street.

(Candy Fruits Refresh)

I wasn't that far from Kuramaebashi Street, so I doubled back north to Schatzkiste, where Candy Fruits is up on the 3rd floor. I know that Candy Fruits has the eyeglasses shop and the reflex place, but they're also supposed to have a cafe. Unfortunately, the cafe's not on my regular map, and the place above Schatzkiste turned out to just be the reflex shop.

(Former Misty Heaven)

So I returned to Misty Heaven, and I looked more closely at the chalk board set out next to the door. Seems that Misty went out of business and was replaced by something having a theme night. But again, there were no customers and the staff didn't look like they were ready to open the doors yet.

(Para Yuni)

I headed back towards the Mandarake used manga shop. Just past that is the maid-themed UFO Catcher shop, with @Sweet on the 2nd floor, and Para Yuni on the 5th. I hadn't been to Para Yuni yet, so I took the elevator up, just to find out that they were taking a holiday that day. Closed.

That only left Mai Dreamin' Akiba as one of the new places that I could remember at the moment, so I went back to the station. Going one block south from where I'd started, I found the entrance easily enough. But the elevator was stuck on the 5th floor. The entrance to the fire escape stairs was nearby, and I took that up to the 2nd floor, where there was a sign just inside the door saying "2nd floor is closed, please go to the third floor". From here, the fire escape door was marked "no entrance", so I figured that walking up to the third floor might be a waste of time. I went back down to the ground floor where I had to wait for several minutes for the elevator to start moving. When it finally did arrive, two young guys, looking kind of stupid, slowly got out and wandered towards the street. No idea if they had just been standing at the door talking to friends, or if someone else had monopolized the elevator. Regardless, I finally got to Mai Dreamin' on the 3rd floor, which was open and taking customers right away. But by this time, it was almost 6:30, and I was kind of cutting things tight for getting my meal and then getting to work on time. MD has a 500 yen table charge for 60 minutes, and when I was ready to leave, the maids couldn't understand why I wasn't willing to stay longer since I'd paid for the full hour.

I spent almost 45 minutes trying to find a maid cafe for reviewing here on Maid Runner. Sometimes you just can't win. Next time, I'll check my maps in advance, and have 5 places lined up just in case...

Review: Mai Dreamin' Akiba

2010-02-11T16:30:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I was walking along Chuu-ou Dori next to one of the electronics shops, just a short ways from the Akihabara JR station, when I heard a female voice doing the "added flavor" chant over a PA that's normally used for advertising the electronics store. Looking around, I finally noticed the ad for Mai Dreamin' on the side of the building, but I initially thought that they'd paid to promote one of their other locations farther north up the street. Then I realized that they'd opened up shop 4 - AKA: Mai Dreamin' Akiba Station.

This newest location takes up the second and third floors of a narrow building, and just opened up. Normally, you go to the second floor, and if it's full or if you want the smoking area they take you up to the third floor. But this one evening, there was a sign just inside the cafe saying "go to the third floor". If you like to smoke, that's fine. But I don't, and the area was heavy with it. I just wanted to let you know that I'll risk lung cancer if it means being able to get a review out for you.

MD Akiba is very similar to MD 1-3, except that as I say, the rooms are smaller and broken up over 2 floors. This makes for a cozier setting, and you're closer to the stage when they have events. There were 16 people tops at one point, making the room about 75% full. There are 2 counters, at the front and back of the room for 4 people each, and the rest of the space is for 2-person tables. Initially, everyone there was male, and mostly salarymen. Later, a foreign couple came in, probably from Australia, and what looked to be a group of 3 Japanese women dressed up in drag, at least one of whom seemed to know the bartender.

The staff is friendly, wandering the room to see if you need anything, but few of the Japanese customers wanted to talk to them. So I ended up spending a lot of time asking a couple of the maids questions about the place, and in teaching one of them a couple English phrases. They get a fair number of tourists and they want to be able to use English for those times. The stage is mostly for taking the maid photos, but there are occasional live events that cost either 4000 or 8000 yen to attend. The maids will also run a few variants on "rock, paper, scissors", with the winner getting a free photo, dessert or something similar.

I decided to get the omelet rice, soft drink and maid photo set for 2200, and with the 500 yen table charge for 1 hour, the meal came to 2700 yen (about $30 USD). I got the ice coffee, which smelled really good, and came in a big glass, but started tasting watery as the ice melted. The "omrice" came out in a big heart-shaped bowl, with a mound of spiced rice and a scrambled egg placed over it, with curry-like gravy. The maid conducted added flavor chants for both the coffee and omrice, and drew a picture of a cat over the rice in catsup for me. The omrice was good, and there was enough to be filling. The maid tried to sell me some ice cream for dessert, but I passed, since it would have been an additional 200 yen for just one or two small spoonfulls.

The maids are willing to do a variety of poses for the photos, including something like Street Fighter, and "cute cats". I decided to go with the Ultraman "beam" pose.

Afterwards, they offered me a points card. This was the first time I've heard anything about MD having a points card, and it would have been nice if I could have used it at the other shops. 1000 yen per point; 10 points gets you a free soft drink or beer, and 50 points gets you a "rank up".

I generally have fun when I'm at Mai Dreamin', so I do recommend it, especially if you're a tourist looking to experience a maid cafe. I just wish they'd get rid of the table charge.

Summary:
Name: Mai Dreamin' Akiba Station
Location: Just west of the Akihabara JR station on Chuu-ou Dori, 2nd and 3rd floors. When you're in the station, take the Denki Town exit, which has exits facing north and south. It's probably easier to go out the south side and turn right to go west. When you get to Chuu-ou Dori, the cafe will be on the corner to your right. If you go out the north side of the station, turn left, then left again at Chuu-ou Dori, and the cafe will be on the left just before you reach the next corner.
Price: Moderate-high.
Food: Large-serving specials for the omelet and curry, as well as regular-sized entrees of the same type. Hamburger patties and pasta. Entrees in the 800 to 1000 yen range. Soft drinks are 500, cocktails and wines are 1100 yen. Desserts include parfaits, cakes and smoothies, in the 700 to 900 yen range.
Service: Very friendly and outgoing.
"Love": "added flavor" chants over the drinks; a similar chant is made over the foods and desserts. Drawings of your choice on the food in catsup.
Outfits: Black dress with white apron and blouse.
Photos: 500 yen, with one maid; or as part of meal or dessert sets.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: 500 yen lets you play a game with the maid for prizes (maid photos, etc.) Various events throughout the year.
Recommendation: Like Mai Dreamin' 2, Mai Dreamin' Akiba is a very relaxed cafe and the maids have no problems talking with the customers. There's no real theme or gimmick here, other than the maids treating you like the master of the house, but the atmosphere is light and the food is good. Recommended.

Maid Punk

2010-02-08T16:28:00.000-08:00

Karin Amamiya was the lead singer for punk band The Revolutionary Truth. She's also a writer and anti-poverty activist. Here, she has a column in The Big Issue magazine, which is a publication aiming to help the homeless in Japan earn a small living wage. Karin makes a good maid.

(Karin's regular article in The Big Issue.)

Review: Kokumaro Milk

2010-02-04T17:13:00.000-08:00

Back in November, when I reviewed Royal Milk, I'd taken a photo of the ad board in front of the building, and the banner for Kokumaro Milk on the 4th floor didn't really catch my eye. I remember dismissing it as something not maid related. However, last week one of the maids out on Chuu-ou Dori was handing out fliers for Kokumaro, so I decided to go back and check it out. On reviewing the flier, I noticed that it was also good for one free soft drink, which was a bonus.

It wasn't until I got to the building shown on the map that I realized that it was above Royal Milk. This place doesn't have an elevator, so I took the outer staircase up to the 4th floor. As I approached the door, a maid stepped out to greet me (turns out that the door has an electronic lock, and a bell sounds inside when someone reaches the landing) wearing an off-the-shoulder white dress (kind of like in the poster board in the top photo) not really suited for the slightly-above-freezing temps that night. She mentioned the 800 yen per hour table charge and asked if that was ok by me. Then we went inside and she went through the rules (standard maid cafe rules - no harassing the maids, no cameras, turn cell phone speakers off, etc.)

Kokumaro bills itself as a harem bar, meaning that the focus is on a variety of attractive young women. The hours are 5:30 to 11:30 PM nightly, and I'd arrived just before 6 on a Tuesday, so it was lightly staffed and I only saw one couple a few tables away. They're running an event this month where groups of 4 or more will receive a free food item, so I expect that the bar is more crowded later at night and closer to the weekend.

The room is fairly spacious, with seating for 48 people, and a small VIP corner towards the back. There's an 800 yen table charge for 60 minutes, or 1500 for the VIP room. The walls are a dark red, the booths and tables are separated by bead curtains, and the lighting is low to set a more romantic mood. It's kind of like if TGIFridays had been designed as a 1980's date spot. When you sit down, the maid places an electric candle on the table, along with a brass key representing your presence in the bar. The key has your starting time written on it, and you turn it in at the cash register when you leave. The maids are very attentive, but unless you're specifically placing an order or they're delivering your drinks, they stay off to the side and leave you alone. They don't chat with the customers like they do at other cafes.

One of the "only in Japan" elements is the "milk service" portion of the name "Kokumaro Milk". First, there are several mixed drinks on the menu that have a milk base, such as Kahlua and Milk. The menu also has a number of entree items, including hamburg steak and chicken, in the 900 to 1400 yen range. Mixed drinks for 800 to 1000 yen, and beer for 500. Some soft drinks (ginger ale, melon soda, tea) for 350 yen, but no coffee. And a range of izakaya-style single dishes like skewered chicken or fried oysters for 500 to 700 yen. The entree items have slightly erotic names , and I had to get the "sadistic steak" for 1000 yen just to find out what it was. For the free soft drink, I chose a ginger ale. Along with the cover charge plus tax, the total came to 1850 yen.

The ginger ale arrived first in a large glass with a lot of ice. Fairly plain, but a large size for the price by Japan standards. The meal arrived a while later, and it turns out that "sadistic" just refers to the chef's chopping the steak up into small bits. Actually, in Japan, when something is called a "steak", it probably means that it's chopped hamburger reformed into a steak shape, AKA a "hamburg steak". The sadistic steak had a brown gravy poured over the top, and a few lettuce leaves on the side. The maid then introduced the second part of the "milk service". Each maid has a small baby bottle on a strap around their necks, filled with milk. She poured some of the milk over the steak for flavor and then left. Naturally, because it's a large hamburger patty, the dish was tender and juicy, and the gravy was pretty good as well. The serving size was reasonable for the price (again, by maid cafe standards).

There's no mention of maid photos on the menu. The points card system works just like the @Home members card. You start out at bronze level and you get 1 point per visit. After 5 visits you go to silver level, where you get one free food item and a 300 yen reduction on the table charge. At 15 visits you go to gold, for a free maid photo and 2 free food items. Pink Platinum is 25 visits, and the "mystery card level" is at 50 visits. In comparison, it's a lot easier to get the Kokumaro mystery card than it is the @Home Black card (2000 visits). The Kokumaro card is also good for a longer time, until 2019.

Overall, I did enjoy myself, and the food is good. With the free drink coupon, the 1850 yen total was a very good price by maid cafe standards. However, if you're here to drink and party with co-workers, it's going to get expensive fast. Figure 50% to 90% more than at a regular izakaya. On the other hand, if you want a go-to place for after-hour drinks, once you reach gold or platinum level the prices get a little better because of the reduction of the table charge.

Summary:
Name: Kokumaro Milk
Location: 1 block north of Mandarake, 1.5 blocks west of Chuu-ou Dori, on the 4th floor above Royal Milk.
Price: Moderate
Cover: 800 lets you stay 1 hour.
Food: Some hamburger and chicken entrees in the 900-1400 yen range, a wide variety of mixed drinks for 800-1000, finger foods for 600, and soft drinks for 350 yen.
"Love": No special chants or greetings.
Outfits: Low-cut white dress with lots of frills, and 2 white hearts over the chest area.
Photos: With upgrade to gold membership.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: Kokumaro is a "harem bar", meaning that the focus is on having a variety of attractive young women on staff. The "milk" theme consists of pouring milk from a baby bottle onto the food, and milk-based mixed drinks (ala Kahlua and milk).
Recommendation: Kokumaro Milk is set up as a low-lighting romantic bar with booth seating and mood music on the PA. As such, it may appeal to couples out on a night on the town. The staff is outgoing and attentive, but not particularly chatty. Recommended.

Maid for You movie and Bizs

2010-02-01T16:05:00.000-08:00

There's a free magazine, BIZS, that shows up occasionally around Akihabara that attempts to advertise some of the shops. The main focus of volume 3 is the new movie that came out Jan. 30 - "Maid for You". Looks like a weird combination of a murder mystery and a love story. Several of the scenes take place in a maid cafe in Akihabara that the female lead works in. The IMDB entry is missing the synopsis at the moment.

Volume 3 also has lots of ads for maid cafes, profiles on various maids from different cafes, and an area map showing locations of "moe" shops (not all of which are maid cafe-related).

EDIT: Along with the monthly magazine, there is a dedicated stand-alone map. On one side of the map are coupons and small banner ads for about 80 cafes, bars and reflex shops in and around Akihabara. The other side is the map itself, which is pretty much identical to what's in the magazine. The magazine can be found on the ground floor inside the Donkey building. The map is in a dispenser on the maid cafe map wall on the outside of the north wall of the Donkey building near the parking lot entrance. To find the map wall, go to Tully's coffee shop at the northeast corner of the UDX building. Cross the street and walk about 50 feet towards Chuu-ou Dori. It'll be on your left, really hard to miss.

BIZS Agency - Business Idea Zeal Success

Review: St. Grace Court

2010-01-28T16:44:00.000-08:00

Golgo13_sniper requested this one, so here it is.

St. Grace Court is unusual in several ways. Now, "unusual" pretty much fits many maid cafes anyway, because they tend to look for themes that make them stand out from each other. St. Grace Court is an exception primarily because it's not located within the main Akihabara boundaries. Instead, it's at the outskirts on the south side of Kanda river. To find it, exit the Akihabara JR station for Denki Town, head west to Chuu-ou Dori, and turn left. Cross the Kanda river, then take the first left, the first right and the first left again. It's just behind the big steak restaurant, in the middle of the block on the left.

The next exception is the theme. This time, we have a "church" dedicated to Akihabara. Normally, the "sisters" are dressed in blue frocks, and the "dansou" (women as butlers) are dressed up as priests. However, this evening they were in the middle of a tie-in event with "Pia Carrot Yokoso", and the maids were in cosplay as characters from the anime.

There's a small smoking space on the first floor, just large enough to hold about 10 people. A staircase to one side leads to the main dining area in the basement. The ground floor walls are white and lined with posters. The basement is more somber, with purple walls, and dimmer lighting. Posters line one wall, pictures of the "sisters" are on another wall along with a cross, and a third wall shows the glossy photos - known in Japan as "bromides" available for sale. The fourth wall has tableware, glasses, and a small fridge with beer and soft drinks.

(Bromide of a maid in cosplay.)

The menus are in Japanese, but one or two of the maids can speak some English. The entrees include curries, pastas and hamburg steaks, in the 900-1500 yen range. Drinks are 300 yen if you get an entree or dessert. Desserts are 600-800 yen. Right now, they have set meal specials for 1400 to 1600 yen that includes a "cream stew poured over a hamburg steak" and a bromide photo. Bromide sets do not allow for a set drink (i.e. - soft drinks are full price). I got the bromide set hamburg steak, with water on the side. The steak had a cream sauce on top, and a small salad on the side, for 1450 yen. It was tasty, but not quite filling enough, so I also got a chocolate sponge cake for 600 yen. The cake was good, but with all of the whipped cream, was about 50% air. The entire night came to 2050 yen.

There were 2 customers on the first floor, and 6 in the basement. Most were salarymen, but one woman arrived who really seemed to be enjoying herself. The staff chatted to some of the regulars, but only for a few minutes at a time. In my case, though, they were willing to talk as long as I wanted. One maid was particularly friendly and a lot of fun to talk to. So I asked her about the shop, etc. Normally, they don't have maid photos, just the bromides. Maid photos are available randomly on certain event nights. They do have a points card, but it's 1500 yen per point, making it the priciest one I've seen so far. Cards can be redeemed for branded goods like coffee cups and saucers.

Overall, I enjoyed myself a lot. St. Grace Court is an interesting place, if you don't take the theme too seriously. It's kind of like some of the manga on the market. And, the prices are reasonable.

Summary:
Name: St. Grace Court
Location: The other side of the Kanda river from the Akihabara station. Cross the river at Chuu-ou Dori, take the first left, the first right and the first left again. On the left in the middle of the block, 1st floor.
Price: Moderate
Cover: No cover.
Food: Pastas, curries and hamburg steaks from 900 to 1500 yen, soft drinks and beer, and desserts for 600-800 yen.
"Love": No special chants or greetings. No writing on the food.
Outfits: Blue nun-style frocks.
Photos: Bromides of the maids only. Maid photos only during certain random events.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: A "religious"-themed cafe with "sisters" and "priests". During certain tie-ins with games or anime, the maids will dress up in cosplay for that show or game.
Recommendation: Highly recommended. The prices are reasonable (for a maid cafe), the staff is friendly and talkative and the food is good.

Men as maids

2010-01-25T17:40:00.000-08:00

This s kind of a dangerous subject, since it's so open to ridicule, but we might as well allow for equal opportunity. Men playing female roles has been a long and honored tradition in European theater, and in Kabuki. The reverse also exists but not for as long, with the all-female cast of Takarazuka playing both the male and female roles. When it comes to maid cafes, the Dansou cafes have women dressing up as butlers, and there's also the "little brother" cafes with an all-female staff. Finally, okama bars, or transvestite bars, have been popular in Tokyo for a while as well.

The Japan times recently ran a story on Hibari-tei, an okama maid cafe.

Review: Filles

2010-01-21T17:03:00.000-08:00

Filles is a games and conversation space that doubles as a cafe, and its approach is fairly unique. It is a fun place to hang out for a while, but it can get expensive quickly if you let it. Filles is located just west of Chuu-ou Dori, at the north end, across the street from Usagi Jinja, on the 4th floor of the building that has Mai Dreamin' 1.

The room is spacious by Akihabara standards, and well-lit, with 3 four-person tables and about 10 spaces at the counter. There's a dart board at one end, wood and glass cases holding coffee cups and board games behind the counter, and anime figures scattered around the shelves along the walls. It looks like an odd cross between a tea room and someone's living room.

The system is simple. You pay 1500 yen to enter. This let's you stay for 90 minutes, and gives you 1 free soft drink and one maid game. Additional soft drinks are between 300 and 400 yen, and more maid games are 1000 yen each for 3 rounds. Maid photos are 1000 yen each. They do serve food, which includes the standard curries, pastas and hamburg steaks, at 600-700 yen, but no one was eating while I was there. I ordered an ice coffee. Because I really didn't know how the system would work, I held off on getting food, and since no one else was eating either, I can't comment on the entries. In any event, any food you do order will be on top of the 1500 yen entry fee.

There's the standard "welcome home, master" greeting when you enter, and they have an English rules card to explain the system. Once you agree to it, they'll lead you to an empty chair at the counter (or to a table for groups of 3 or 4) and take out a hot towel to clean your hands for you. When seated, you can get an English menu and place your drink order. For ice or hot coffee, one of the maids will pour in the sugar and cream and stir the cup for you. Fortunately, they don't go so far as to actually drink the coffee for you, but I expect that they could if you ask politely.

There were about 6-7 customers when I arrived, all male, and most of them dressed up as young salarymen, with one or two in plain street clothes. One group of three guys played a version of "leaning tower" with circular wooden disks. I've never seen this game before so I don't know what it's called. Each disk has a hole near the rim, and the numbers 1-6 printed on one side. Each player rolls a die, then takes the top disk from the stack and lines the hole up with the number rolled for the next disk of the tower. This makes for a very unstable tower and the loser is the one that makes it collapse. Down at the other end of the counter, someone else was playing UNO. The maids kept winning, so I don't know the the prize was for the customers.

There were 3 maids in the cafe at any one time, with one more outside handing out fliers. The inside maids were all very friendly and spent time moving around and carrying on conversations with everyone. For my part, we talked about anime and manga, learning English and where to visit in the U.S. My maid was planning a trip to New York in March, and continuing on to London, and wanted to know about interesting places to see in the States. She's also a cosplayer and a big fan of Soul Eater. When I told her I like Soul Eater, she squealed and ran to get this one book. Turns out that at events like Comic Market, cosplayers can pose for a professional photographer to have their photo included in an annual catalog. She and two other maids had dressed up as Medusa, Chronos and Eruka in hand-made costumes that were very impressive. She looked just like Eruka.

Some of the maids can speak a little English, but they're much happier with Japanese. They told me that they get groups of westerners fairly regularly, and don't really know what to do with them for conversations. So, they're happy if you visit, but you're going to get the most out of your stay if you can speak Japanese.

Since I had to get to work, after 45 minutes I stood up to leave, and one of the other maids discovered that there was still a poker chip inside the jacket holding my bill, meaning that I hadn't collected yet on my free game. I said that I still had a couple of minutes, so she ran to get what I think is called "wani wane" (alligator trap). This is the one where you press down on the teeth of the alligator and the loser is the one that makes it's mouth close. I won the first round but lost the remaining 2. Being the loser, I had to wear a pair of cat ears for the rest of my stay, which happily wasn't that long. The maids are willing to take your photo for you with your own camera.

I was trying to keep my costs down this time (plus 1000 yen for a maid photo is too pricey for me) so I didn't get a separate maid photo. The total came to 1500 yen for just the initial entry fee. There is a points card; 1 point per visit, but I can't see anything saying what you get for a filled card.

Summary:
Name: Filles
Location: Across the street from Usagi no Jinja, on the 4th floor of the same building as Mai Dreamin' 1, at the north end of Chuu-ou Dori.
Price: Moderate to high, depending on how many games you play.
Cover: 1500 lets you stay 90 minutes, and gives you one soft drink and one maid game.
Food: Standard curries, pastas and hamburg steaks for 600 yen. Additional soft drinks for 300, and cakes for 300 yen.
"Love": Standard greetings when you arrive and leave. Maids add sugar and cream to your coffee and stir it for you. No added flavor chants.
Outfits: Black dress with white apron and lace frills.
Photos: 1000 yen.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: Mini games and conversation. The maids try to spend equal time talking to everyone. You get three rounds of some game (first game is free, subsequent games are 1000 yen each), such as wani wane and UNO.
Recommendation: Although Filles can get expensive fast, if you're just there to talk, play one game and have something to drink, it's not that bad. And, it is a fun space to hang out for 90 minutes for only 1500 yen. Recommended.

Maid non-cafes, Part 13 - Conversation

2010-01-18T16:09:00.000-08:00

Just when I've thought that I'd covered all of the non-cafe maid locations in Akihabara, I find one more. This is a never-ending job, just simply listing these places. Unless someone starts paying me for this service, I'm never going to be able to visit all of them for review purposes.

Cute Room is a conversation space. You pay about 4000 yen ($45 USD) to sit and talk to a girl wearing the uniform of your choice for about 40 minutes. While Tokyo does have some places for sex (AKA - soap lands) this doesn't seem to be one of them. There's a menu of uniforms to choose from, plus of course a list of girls. Essentially, this is a cosplay version of a hostess bar, but without the inflated drink prices and you're not surrounded by a crowd of noisy drunks.

You're taking your chances here, but if the idea is that you want to pick up a girl, you're better off going to a regular bar in Roppongi. You're odds are better and it'd probably cost the same in terms of buying beer. On the other hand, the website doesn't show pictures of the shop or the staff, and that may be an indication of the kind of place they're running.

Review: Pinky Cafe, 3F

2010-01-14T14:18:00.000-08:00

Having visited 2F last week, I decided that I'd follow up with 3F this time. But I'd realized that I'd forgotten the points card and changed my plans to go to Cute Room on the 4th floor instead. Then, when I got to Cute Room, I found out that it's actually a conversation lounge - you're paying to sit around and just talk for a while for $40. So, 3F it was.

Pinky Cafe, 3F is very similar to the location on the 2nd floor. The primary difference is that about half of the seating area is taken up with a small wooden stage and a DJ booth. So, there are only seven 2-person tables and 5 seats at the counter. Otherwise, 3F also is a 50's-style burger joint.

One major word of warning - the cover charge can kill you here. I really should rephrase this - all maid cafes that charge an hourly rate (or for every 90 minutes) refer to this as a "table charge". Normally, the table charge is based on when you enter, and let's you stay for 60 to 90 minutes (depending on the cafe). Stay longer than that and you have to pay for another 60-90 minutes. I wasn't really sure what I was being told when I came into Pinkys 3F, but it had something to do with my arriving at 5:50 PM and there only being 10 minutes left in the hour. Later, I learned that Pinky's was charging "ON the hour" NOT "per hour". So, even though I was only there 50 minutes, I still had to pay 1000 yen in table charges. Definitely NOT worth it. But, in their defense, the maid did try to warn me up front.

Well, if 2F and 3F are almost the same, why write up a separate entry? Other than to chew up space, that is...

The answer is that having the stage does give them a chance to do some song performances, although that didn't happen while I was there. What did happen was that one of the customers ordered a rocket cocktail. Pinkys has a tendency to serve drinks in weird glasses, but for the rocket cocktail, the shaker is shaped like a rocket. When it was brought out, another maid started up the Astro Boy theme song on the PA system, and as that played all of us were asked to join in clapping and repeating the chant yelled by the maid as she shook the drink. At the end, she raised the shaker like a launching rocket and then poured the drink out. While it only filled up 2/3 of the glass (which the customer complained about) he did say that it tasted good.

For my part, I decided to get the don-burger set this time, with smiley potatoes and hot coffee for 1350 yen, plus a maid photo for another 500 yen (with the table charge it came to 2850 yen, or $32 USD). "Donburi" just refers to any food served in a bowl. Gyuu-don (beef bowl) is generally boiled beef and onions on top of a bowl of rice. With the don-burger, Pinkys took a toasted bun, cut it into quarters and put it on the bottom of the bowl. They then lined the bowl with lettuce, piled in the sliced beef and sauteed onions and topped it with the other half of the toasted and quartered bun. You're expected to eat it with chopsticks. It was pretty tasty and filling, but the 1000 yen table charge wiped out any value you would have gotten from the serving size.

The hot coffee was served in a heart-shaped cup - it looked good, but tasted thin and bitter. Pinkys does NOT know how to make good coffee. You're better off getting the beer or other soft drinks.

The one thing that you have to discard when you walk into a maid cafe, especially if you're going to get a maid photo, is any sense of self-respect that you may have had. When I went up on the stage for the photo, the maid pulled out the rabbit ears and told me to "pull a rabbit face with hands pose". This resulted in all the maids shrieking "kawaii kawaii". I guess there's a reason why none of the other customers got a maid photo that night.

There were 10 customers while I was there, all male, and mostly young salarymen, but with a couple older guys in casual street clothes. One of the older guys actually gave off a harley biker vibe. The maids were friendly, but mostly too busy for just standing around and chatting. On the PA they played a mix of hard rock, Japanese death metal and light j-pop. And, it turns out that Pinky's has its own "maid info channel", a little TV studio on the first floor where they record the maids doing promos for the cafe, which is then run on a loop on the screens facing the street downstairs as well as in the cafe itself. Doesn't look like anyone actually watches the maid info channel, though.

Bottom line: I inherently dislike places that have table charges, since the food and drinks are already over-priced compared to regular restaurants. One argument has been made that the table charges are intended to discourage homeless people from hanging out all day and not buying anything, but other cafes get around this by requiring a 1-drink minimum per hour. My feeling is that table charges are just one way to make up for a lack of customers, which jacks the price up and in turn keeps people from coming back. Anyway, I don't like Pinky's approach to charging on the hour. If you want a burger in a maid cafe, Pinkys has good burgers. Just be careful of when you arrive. (If you want a really good burger cheap, go somewhere else.)

Summary:
Name: Pinky Cafe, 3F
Location: Go north on Chuu-ou Dori to the streetlight in front of the Donkey building. Take the side street west 1.5 short block. It's on the left, in the T&K Akiba Building.
Price: Moderate
Cover: 500 yen lets you stay 1 hour, starting on the hour.
Food: Mostly hamburgers, with some desserts, soft drinks and mixed drinks.
"Love": Standard greetings and added flavor chants.
Outfits: Red skirt and jacket.
Photos: 500 yen
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: Pinky has two cafes, on the second and third floors of the building. 3F has a cabaret stage, but both floors are primarily hamburger shops.
Recommendation: Pinky 3F doesn't really have any single elements that stand out, but there is a sense of fun throughout. From the posters showing the maid transforming from moe to greedy hamburger eater, to the interactions between the maids themselves, Pinky is an interesting place to hang out. I would recommend it except because of the excessive cover charges.

Maid non-cafes, part 12 - Misc

2010-01-11T17:11:00.000-08:00

Ok, time to wrap this up. I'm running out of non-cafe spaces to comment on, and this is all that's left. Again, I'm not reviewing these places, just letting you know they exist in case you want to visit them.

Akiba Women’s Dorm Main Building Relaxation Space

I'm assuming that "relaxation space" just means a place with tables where you can hang out and drink coffee with women wearing pajamas. If I'm wrong, send me some photos and let me know.

Akiba Celestial Sphere (DJ Cafe)

Maids spinning tunes. What will they think of next? No, really, I want to know, what WILL they think of next? Although, the website for "Tenkyu" does seem to be closer to a song and dance stage ala Itchome Theater. I may have to visit Tenkyu/Celestial Sphere and find out exactly what it is. Ah, decisions, decisions....

Review: Pinky Cafe

2010-01-07T17:43:00.001-08:00

I have a list of maid cafes that I have been able to track down in Akihabara. Parts of the list come from the different advertising maps that are handed out by several sources. It's not a complete list, since some of the cafes don't pay to be included on the maps, and there are always new locations opening up every few weeks. But, I was getting the feeling that the number of places left to visit had dropped down to just a handful. Then I happened to stumble on one building that has 3 more cafes in it that I hadn't known about.

Pinky Cafe has locations on both the 2nd and 3rd floors of the building. I'd visited in the middle of the afternoon on a Sunday, and there were two maids out front handing out fliers. The building is right across Chuu-ou Dori from the Donkey Building. Take Chuu-ou north from the Akihabara JR station to the first streetlight, and turn left at the side street just past the light. The T&K Akiba building is 1.5 short blocks west, on the left. I'm told that the 3rd floor has a cabaret stage, but I haven' t tried checking it out yet. The 2nd floor is kind of set up like a '50s hamburger shop, with white round tables and wire chairs for seating about 20 people, with another 8 seats at the counter. The space is brightly lit, with posters and photos of the food along the walls.

The woman working the bar had a butch/dansou character going on, while the rest of the staff were dressed up as bouncy, frilly maids in red skirts and pink jackets. There's also a "ribbon" system; instead of all of the prices being in yen, they're in "ribbons". That is, the cover charge for 60 minutes is 500 ribbons, maid photos are 500 ribbons, and so on. When you sit down, a little business card holder with a ribbon tied on it is placed on the table. As you prepare to leave, you take one end of the ribbon, the maid takes the other and you untie it to signify your departure.

The main food items are variants on hamburgers, with soft drinks (500 ribbons), beer (700 ribbons) and mixed drinks 850 ribbons on up), and cake or ice cream for desserts (650 to 850 ribbons). The maids write on the plates of the desserts in strawberry syrup. Most of the burgers are in the 800-1000 ribbon range, plus 400-600 yen for the set menus (plus a soft drink and "smile potatoes"). I decided to get the Akiba Burger set for 1250 ribbons. Along with the cover and maid photo, it was 2250 yen ($25 USD) - about normal for a maid cafe.

The ice coffee was too watery, and the "Pinky added flavor chant" didn't help it much. When the burger came out, the maid and I did the same chant again and it must have worked better, because the burger was pretty good. Essentially, it's a standard burger, with a piece of lettuce, a slice of hard-boiled egg, toasted buns, and dripping with catsup and mustard. The three little smile potatoes were an odd thing in a smiley face shape, not quite boiled and not quite fried. They were golden brown but not crispy. They definitely tasted like potato, but otherwise they left me feeling confused. They were cute, though. There are a couple versions of the added flavor chant, mostly including making a heart shape with your hands, and putting the word "pinky" into the lyrics.

There were 10 customers while I was there, consisting of a mix of punks with pierced faces, businessmen and guys just out for a beer. A couple of them drew pictures of the maids on the coasters, which were then either worn by the maids as buttons or put on the wall. At least one artist seemed to be a regular, and he turned his table into a small studio, piled with albums and utensils. More people arrived as well, but when they got off the elevator, they looked around and got back on, presumably to try checking out the third floor, or Cute Room up on the fourth.

The maid photo was pretty standard, just a heart pose. But, I like the embellishments the maid added.

There is a points card. Here, it's 1000 ribbons per point. 10 points gets you a free soft drink or beer. 50 gets you a members upgrade of some kind (presumably a fancier version of the card).

Pinky 2F is a fairly standard maid cafe, with an emphasis on the hamburgers. Not a whole lot else to say about it, though it has a constant stream of customers and the maids are friendly and willing to talk to you. At least one maid could speak some English, too. I intend to visit 3F next time to see what they've got going on up there.

Summary:
Name: Pinky Cafe, 2F
Location: Go north on Chuu-ou Dori to the streetlight in front of the Donkey building. Take the side street west 1.5 short block. It's on the left, in the T&K Akiba Building.
Price: Moderate
Cover: 500 yen lets you stay 1 hour.
Food: Mostly hamburgers, with some desserts, soft drinks and mixed drinks.
"Love": Standard greetings and added flavor chants.
Outfits: White and red skirts with a pink jacket.
Photos: 500 yen
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: Pinky has two cafes, on the second and third floors of the building. 3F is reportedly a cabaret stage. 2F is primarily a hamburger shop.
Recommendation: Pinky 2F doesn't really have any single elements that stand out, but there is a sense of fun throughout. From the posters showing the maid transforming from moe to greedy hamburger eater, to the interactions between the maids themselves, Pinky is an interesting place to hang out. Recommended.

Maid non-cafes, part 11 - Guide Services

2010-01-04T15:23:00.000-08:00

Sure, there are other guide companies working in Akihabara, including Akibanana. But, do you want to walk around behind some guy with no chin wearing fake yellow hair in a cheap cosplay outfit, or would you rather be seen with a pretty maid? Yeah, thought so.

I haven't tried using these companies yet, so I'm not going to try to review them. If you have taken a maid tour, please add a comment here.

Ecri (Guide)
Maid Club (Souvenirs)
@Room Service

Review: cafe la vie en rose

2009-12-31T15:49:00.000-08:00

With cafe la vie en rose, I've finished off the building that MfactCAFE and Pondichery are all located in. Rose is on the third floor, and is the most relaxed of the 3 places, although it's also the more structured. The space is a little confined, with just enough room to hold 20 people at the dark wooden tables and chairs, and another 3 or 4 at the bar. The walls have a light pink wallpaper with little roses on them, and the place is fairly well-lit. Not a lot of posters or signs on the walls, and the daily special board was actually sitting propped up on the floor to one side.

When I arrived, the two maids talking to some of the customers looked like they really weren't expecting customers at that time. There were 3 guys sitting at the tables, and I was directed to the free table of my choice. One maid brought me a menu in Japanese, and a few minutes later the second maid replaced it with an English menu. They told me about the daily specials, and then one of the maids brought over a notebook for me to write in. It's apparently a personal project and not owned by the cafe itself, but there were some REALLY nice drawings in the notebook, plus a number of written pieces. I drew a small sketch and added a paragraph in English, making me the first person to put anything in English in the book.

Regarding the food, the focus seems to be on the lunch menu, with a variety of entrees and soft drinks. During the evening, the menu largely consists of mixed drinks and beer, but there are pasta and rice dishes in the 1000 yen range and you can choose from 4 or so different toppings for the pasta. Drawings in catsup or mayonnaise on top of the dish is an extra 150 yen. Soft drinks are 500 yen, or 300 as part of an entree or dessert order. The maid cappuccino (hot or cold) is 700 yen. The hot cappuccino consists of a small espresso with steamed milk, and a drawing of your choice on top of the froth in chocolate syrup. Desserts are mostly sponge cakes, in the 700-800 range. I ordered a hot maid cappuccino and a blueberry yogurt cake. Along with the 500 yen maid photo, the total came to 1850 yen. Fortunately, cafe la vie en rose doesn't have a cover charge.

The coffee came out first, as I was writing in the notebook. The maid drew a nice little cat face for me, and placed a stick of sugar on the plate before leaving. The cafe makes a point of enforcing the "no camera" rule, so I didn't even bother asking if I could take a photo of the food. Wouldn't have mattered though, because by the time I could have gotten the camera out, the chocolate had blended into the foam and the cat didn't look so good anymore. I added the sugar, stirred the coffee, and the entire mix tasted pretty good. I just wish it had been served in a bigger cup for the price. Then the cake came out. It was a small slice with plain sponge cake on the bottom, and layers of blueberry yogurt, plain jello and blueberry jello on top. It tasted ok, but again, it was kind of over priced for what you got.

Two of the three guys left pretty quickly, but were then replaced by 4 others about 15 minutes later. The customers were all male, mostly dressed in the standard black "salaryman" suit jacket with white shirt and tie. One of them seemed to know one of the maids, since he brought her some KFC for dinner. The maids were all wearing dark green dresses with white aprons, but it was a mix of summer knee-length skirts and winter ankle-length full dresses. The women were all pretty casual, joking with each other as they worked, one of them calling another "nee-san" (older sister) all the time.

The main attraction for this cafe is the electric piano sitting next to the door. For 1000 yen, you can ask one of the maids to play or sing for several minutes. At one point, when it was just me and one other customer in the cafe, one of the maids sat down at the piano and began playing several fairly complex classical pieces. Then she switched to a j-pop song that she also sang along with. She was really good for the classical music, but struggled when having to play the j-pop song with just her left hand and holding the sheet music in her right. Later, she brought over the camera for taking the maid photo. Here, 500 yen just gets you a photo of the maid. She posed at the piano for me and I ended up taking the shot (usually, with maid photos, the customer is in the photo with the maid and another maid handles the camera) giving me a little more control over how it turned out. A few minutes later, she returned with the customized photo, complete with "egg-chan" in the corner.

There is a points card. 1 point per 1000 yen (1 point per 500 yen for female customers), plus one point if you leave within 60 minutes, and 1 more point if it is raining outside (AKA: "a rain day"). 30 points gives you a standard maid photo, with you included in the shot.

When I was done, my maid walked me to the elevator, and bowed until the doors closed. Overall, I had fun. cafe la vie en rose is a little pricey, but it's a fun place, and if someone else pays for a song, you get to listen to it for free. Definitely worth the visit.

Summary:
Name: cafe la vie en rose
Location: 3 blocks west of Akihabara JR station past Chuu-ou Dori, in the same building as Pondichery and MfactCAFE, on the third floor.
Price: Moderately high. Prices make up for the lack of a cover charge.
Cover: None.
Food: Extensive lunch menu. Dinner includes various pasta dishes and similar entree items in the 1000 yen range. Soft drinks are 500 yen (300 if ordered with an entree or dessert). Desserts are mostly sponge cakes in the 700 yen range.
"Love": Writing on the entrees in catsup or mayonnaise (for 150 yen extra), and on the cappuccino in chocolate syrup.
Outfits: Dark green dresses with white aprons. Dresses are both knee length and floor length.
Photos: 500 for a photo of just the maid. To get a photo of yourself with a maid, you need to fill up one of the points cards.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: There's a piano in the cafe. For 1000 yen, you can have a maid play the piano and/or sing.
Recommendation: cafe la vie en rose is very relaxed compared to some of the other maid cafes in the area, and the maids have a lot of fun working with each other. They're also pretty good on the piano. The menu items are a bit on the high side, but at least there's no cover charge. It's a fun place to kick back and relax. Recommended.

Maid non-cafes, part 10 - Games Bars

2009-12-28T17:44:00.000-08:00

About half of the maid cafes allow you to play a board or video game against one of the maids for 3 minutes for about 500 yen. The games can include the Pirate in a Barrel, seeing who can take out the most red beans from a bowl using chopsticks, and the Chomping Alligator game (pull a tooth from the alligator's mouth until it snaps shut). Winning the game may get you a free maid photo.

And, there are a lot of bars that offer games. But, there are a few maid cafe/bars that are specifically designed for one kind of game like darts or mahjong. Most have a cover charge (usually 500 yen for 1 hour) and none offer cash prizes. If you win anything, it's either an ashtray or a maid photo. (At Akiba Guild, it's the right to *buy* an ashtray.)

I've been to Akiba Guild, which is a fun place to lose $10-$20 at roulette, and Mermaid, which wasn't as much fun. I don't play mahjong so I have no idea when I'd go to MSN or Tempane. I'll eventually get to PSX, after I've gone to the other regular maid cafes. (PSX charges a cover, and I don't like going to places with a cover charge.)

Akiba Guild (Vegas-style gambling games)
Little MSN (Mahjong)
Little PSX (Darts Bar)
Cafe Mermaid (Darts Bar)
Tempane (Mahjong)

Review: M-factCAFE

2009-12-24T17:40:00.000-08:00

M-factCAFE isn't all that showy or flowery, but it is a nice place to sit and enjoy a cold beer or a hot cup of coffee. It's on the fifth floor of the same building that has Pondichery and cafe la vie en rose, at the west end of Akihabara. Actually, you take the elevator up to the fifth floor, then immediately go up the stairs to the sixth floor where the cafe is (the kitchen is on the fifth floor). The space is split into two seating areas on either side of the stairs. Both areas have small wooden tables and chairs for holding a total 24 people each. When I arrived, there were about 6 guys in one area, the other being used only for taking maid photos. The walls are white enamel, and the space is brightly lit. Large plush dolls from various UFO Catcher machines line the window sills. Posters of various young women ("idols") line the walls. The tables themselves have little clear plastic sleeves at one corner to hold manga sketches identifying the table numbers. J-pop plays on the speakers in the background.

The first time I tried visiting, which was on a Tuesday, M-fC was closed, so I ended up going to Pondichery instead. Looking at the hours listed on the door, I couldn't quite figure out why they weren't open then. So, I came back the following day and got inside with no problems. Normally, one of the maids will be waiting next to the elevator, or going back and forth from the kitchen, to be able to guide customers up to the sixth floor. But, they were all busy with orders when I arrived so no one noticed me until I'd gotten up to the register area. There, I was given the standard "welcome home, master" greeting, shown to the table and given a small laminated card with the menu on it in Japanese. None of the maids tried speaking English to me.

I can't say anything about the lunch service, but for the evening, M-fC is primarily a bar, serving "original maid cocktails", beer and soft drinks. The food entrees consist solely of omelet rice and hayashi rice (the poster outside the building implies that you can have the maid write something on the rice in catsup, but I didn't ask). Along with the regular sodas, they also offer "high end" teas, with the featured tea being Earl Grey, and three different coffees, including Blue Mountain. The desserts consist of some sponge cakes, and french toast. I've seen a number of cafes now that list french toast as a dessert item (I grew up with it as something part of a breakfast set) and I finally broke down and ordered it this time, just to have something to eat with my coffee.

The hand-drip coffee was featured fairly prominently on the menu, so I wanted to see how they'd handle this. First, the maid came over with a small glass carafe with a cloth filter sitting on top, and the ground coffee already in the filter. Then she slowly poured hot water from a small pot over the grounds. The entire process took several minutes, so I started out asking her what M-fC's primary attraction is (contrasted with Mermaid's darts bar and Akiba Itchome's performance stage) and she replied, "probably the coffee". Of course, I then had to follow up this with "most Japanese prefer tea, do you like coffee?" and she immediately shook her head, saying that it's too bitter. We continued talking for a while. Then, when all of the water had been poured into the carafe, she went to get a coffee cup, sugar and creamer. She poured the coffee from the carafe to the cup, laid the cup, creamer and sugar sticks out on the table and left. By this time, the coffee had started to cool down, but it was still pretty good. No guarantees it really was Blue Mountain, but they charged the same for it as for the two other blends on the menu. One comment: in Japan, Blue Mountain is often abbreviated to "Blue Man".

Then the french toast arrived. They have two flavors - regular and cocoa. I got the cocoa. It consisted of 4 large, thick slices of bread coated in egg batter with chocolate powder mixed in and then grilled, with chocolate syrup and powdered sugar sprinkled on top. The bread had been soaked in the batter and was still soggy inside. But, it was just like eating fried donuts with a liquid chocolate pudding center, so it was pretty good. It was also pretty filling. With the coffee at 800 yen, the french toast for 700, and a maid photo at 500, the evening came to 2000 yen (about $22 USD). A bit on the high side, but still typical for a maid cafe. At least there was no cover.

When I arrived, there were two businessmen drinking beer, and a couple others having coffee. Later, an otaku carrying a guitar arrived to get a beer, and a younger guy in straight street clothes came in for coffee. No female customers at that point. I was running a little tight on time, so I only stayed for 45 minutes. The maids, realizing that I was in a hurry went out of their way to ensure that I got out when I wanted to. Otherwise, they would have been happy letting me stay and talk for as long as I wanted. The staff here was much more open and accessible than Pondichery had been.

For the maid photo, we went to the other seating area and I was told to stand on one side of the tree and do the heart pose again. It's looking like more cafes are settling for the heart pose as the standard default for maid photos now. Afterwards, the photo was embellished and brought to my table. I was also given a points card and asked for my birthday. It's 1 point per 1000 yen. 20 points gets you a free soft drink and a "message card". 40 points gets an unspecified present. I'm not sure I want to spend $400 just to find out what the message card and present are. But, M-fC does make a nice meeting place for sitting around and drinking beer, so if you want to become a regular here, getting the points card is a decent perk. And, if you bring the card in on your birthday, you get a free cake and a message card, or something.

Because I did need to leave quickly to get to work, as soon as my receipt arrived I got up, put on my jacket, grabbed my backpack and headed for the stairs. All three maids were busy with other tasks and none of them noticed me go. But, as I was near the bottom of the stairs, my maid let out a "are, mou inai?" ("what, he's already gone?") and she raced down the stairs to tell me "please be careful, master" and to bow me out when I got on the elevator. Overall, I enjoyed myself here, and wouldn't mind coming back.

Summary:
Name: M-factCAFE
Location: West of Akihabara JR station 3 blocks, on the 5th floor of the building with Pondichery. Across the street from Mai Dreamin' 2 and Akiba Itchome Theater.
Price: Moderate.
Cover: No cover, but you are asked to order something off the menu every hour or so.
Food: Limited menu. Entries consist only of omelet rice and hayashi rice; soft drinks; mixed drinks; beer and desserts. Specialties are the Earl Grey tea, and the drip coffee, at around 800 yen.
"Love": Standard "welcome home, master", and "please be careful" chants. Writing on the rice plates in catsup.
Outfits: Dark blue dresses with white aprons.
Photos: 500 yen for a maid photo.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: I specifically asked what M-factCAFE's specialty is, and the maid answered "the coffee". For the most part, in the evening, M-factCAFE is a bar that has a limited menu list. So, the idea is to sit down, have fun with your friends, drink and talk to the maids. However, the coffee is very good, and is prepared at the table in a special drip carafe.
Recommendation: M-factCAFE has a simple concept - put cute girls in maid outfits and have them serve beer, and good tea and coffee. It's very similar in look and feel to Mai Dreamin', except there's fewer food items on the menu. Highly recommended.

Maid non-cafes, part 9 - Gambling

2009-12-21T17:20:00.000-08:00

Gambling for money is frowned upon in Japan. While for the most part it's considered illegal, the law is enforced sporadically, if at all. Pachinko parlor, which are usually run by the Yakuza, get around the law by doing two things. First, they pay out the winnings in candy bars, packs of cigarettes and cans of beer. Each item has a fixed yen value. Second, they move the payout window a short distance from the parlor, and exchange the chocolate, beer and tobacco for cash. So, no one *directly* wins money from the parlors, but they still get their cash payouts somehow.

In Akihabara, though, the maid casinos definitely do NOT pay for cash You get the chance to buy branded items (laminated cards or ash trays), and you can advance up the rankings to become top dog of the casino's gambling set. The two casinos I know of so far are Guild, and Tenpane. I don't play Mahjong, so I don't know when I'll visit there. Guild could be considered to be a maid cafe that offers a chance to play poker against the maids, except that no one's there for the food. Instead, this is a casino that offers snacks and drinks while you play poker, roulette and baccarat.

Akiba Guild (Casino)
Tenpane (Mahjong)

Just as I was about to write up this entry, the Metropolis decided to run Galbraith's latest drivel. The caption "Japanese fanboys are discovering that luck, too, is a lady" is particularly insulting to everyone involved. Maid casinos have been around for a while, so it's not like they're being "discovered" now (except maybe by Galbraith himself). Most people visiting Akiba Guild are businessmen or office ladies. You don't see the classic "okatu" (as defined by Galbraith as being a socially inept male college student who's only interested in anime, manga or video games). And, the focus of the article is on pachinko parlors that are now installing machines that are designed to attract anime fans - of course, if you target a specific market, you're going to see more of that market arriving for your product or service. In this case, the idea is to get video game fans to come in to spend their money in the parlors rather than at video game stores. Thing is, this isn't a new idea either; anime-based pachinko machines have been around for years and you can find them all over Japan, not just in Akihabara. If Galbraith had just focused on reviewing the machines and stayed away from commenting on the people there to play them, he might have had something to write about.

Read at your own risk.

Otaku Gambling

Review: at-Sweet - RIP

2009-12-17T17:00:00.000-08:00

Edit - @Sweet seems to have closed its doors as of early July.

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I'll come right out and say that I had fun at @Sweet and hope that more people visit there. But, that I'm a little selfish and would rather keep the place to myself. To be honest, they're on the third floor of the maid-themed UFO Catcher arcade at Kandamyojin Dori, one block west of Chuu-ou Dori.

@Sweet just opened a couple of weeks ago, and it's still trying to build up a clientele. Because of this, I was the only customer that Wednesday night. Normally, I'm hesitant to enter an empty restaurant, but I'm glad I did this time. The maids were more than willing to talk to me, and we spent the entire hour chatting and I got to hear a lot of free music.

The room is fairly wide, with a small stage in the center and the counter bar built in a "u" to face the stage. There's a small synthesizer in the middle, and one of the maids played and sang j-pop songs while taking requests from the rest of the staff. I'm not sure if they normally charge per song like cafe la en vie rose does, but it was free that night. The room is well-lit, and the tables are white formica, with seating for about 30 people. Don't remember if there were any posters or photos on the walls. I received the standard "welcome home master" greeting and was invited to sit at the counter, closest to the stage.

The lunch sets all run 1000 yen, and include a drink and salad, plus curry rice, spaghetti or hamburg steak. For dinner, the entrees are in the 800-1000 yen range, and are the same selection as for lunch but with the addition of omelet rice. The drinks are 500 yen, 700 for a cappuccino with something written on it in chocolate syrup, and 700 yen for floats (basically adding a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream to any one of the soft drinks). Sponge cakes are 500 yen. Maid photos are 500 yen, and you can play a game against the maid for 500 yen for a few minutes. I ordered a hot coffee, spaghetti with carbonara sauce and a maid photo. Even with the 600 yen cover, the total only came out to 2300 yen, which wasn't too bad. The coffee arrived in a small cup, with the sugar and cream on a separate tray. The spaghetti came out a little later. The serving wasn't all that large, but it was filling and the sauce was very good.

Normally, the maid photo is taken towards the end of the meal, when the maids have a break between bringing out orders. This time, though, the photo was taken almost immediately. My maid asked me what pose I wanted, and before I could ask for suggestions, offered the "heart pose with back to the camera" shot, which I liked. A little later, she returned with the embellished photo, asking if it was ok. My impression is that we could have taken another shot if this one wasn't good enough I was amused by the way she wrote the date and the name of the cafe, coming up with "sweet 16". She hadn't realized what she'd done, and then ran around telling the rest of the staff about "@sweet 16" (which may become some kind of event later on).

As we were talking, I suddenly found myself being given "presents", including an @sweet keychain, and name cards for the maids. I also received the points card and a flier explaining the system. The point cards are kind of similar to what @home uses, except with @home it's one point per visit, and you upgrade from bronze to silver status after 5 points. With @sweet, it's one point per visit, 1 per maid game and 1 per maid photo. 15 points takes you from pearl level to emerald (50 to sapphire, 100 to ruby, 500 to diamond and 999 to "legend"). With pearl, the cover charge is 600 yen, and it drops to 400 yen at emerald, then 300 at sapphire, 200 at ruby and then after that it's no cover. The presents for reaching each new level include free maid photos, post cards and the like, but the flier only describes up to ruby level and there's no mention of the card on the website.

There's also going to be a Christmas event from Dec. 19 to the 25th, including laminated cards and dessert specials, and I'll try going back this Saturday for that. I definitely had fun, and I think that maids kind of forgot that I was a customer because as I was leaving, they suddenly realized that they needed to give me the "please be careful" chant and to bow me out. I hope that they get a lot busier and start bringing in more customers soon. Just not while I'm there...

(Points card, Pearl.)

Summary:
Name: @Sweet
Location: Kandamyojin Dori, about one block west of Chuu-ou Dori, above the maid-styled UFO Catcher shop, third floor.
Price: Moderate
Cover: 600 yen lets you stay 90 minutes.
Food: 1000 yen lunch sets (hamburg steak, curry rice, spaghetti); for dinner, entrees in the 800-1000 yen range include curry rice, omelet rice, spaghetti, and hamburg steak. Soft drinks are 500 yen, ice cream floats are 700 yen. No beer or mixed drinks on the menu.
"Love": Writing on the cappuccino and omelet rice. Standard greetings when you arrive and leave.
Outfits: No standardized uniforms. The website shows a black dress with white apron, but only one maid had that combination when I was there.
Photos: 500 yen.
Wireless Internet: (?) (No laptops in evidence when I was there.)
Specialties: @Sweet is still very new, and I think it's trying to find its niche. At the moment, the focus is on singing and playing the synthesizer.
Recommendation: I had a blast here. The cover is bit higher than most other places that charge one, but the food prices are lower as a result. It was a slow night, so the staff spent all their time talking to me and taking song requests. The food was good, too. Definitely recommended.

Maid non-cafes, part 8 - Goods Shops

2009-12-14T17:03:00.000-08:00

(Usagi no Jinja)

It's a little tricky, trying to decide what a "goods shop" is or isn't. My initial sense was that we're talking about souvenirs, which immediately includes Usagi no Jinja and Maid Club. But just about every maid cafe has some kind of souvenir available, such as laminated cards, pins or CDs. The @Home chain has a shop attached to the cafe in the Donkey building that could be considered a large display stand that's just an extension of the cafe, but it is listed separately as a goods shop on the Akihabara maps, so I'm adding it here. Then we have Cosmate, one of several shops that sells anime character costumes as well as maid uniforms. Other shops specialize in contact lenses, wigs, boots and so on, but unless the items are sold by maids, I won't include them here. On the other hand, a new shop just opened up last week called Jeans Mate, which is a 24 hour shop with souvenirs on the first 2 floors, and clothes on floors 3-5, and it's attended by maids. I love Akihabara.

Goods shops:
@Home Shop (@Home goods)
Akiba Usagi no Jinja (General souvenirs)
Maid Club (General souvenirs)
Cosmate (costumes and supplies)
Jeans Mate (Souvenirs and street clothes)