Maid Cafe's

Akihabara is filled with Maid Cafe's and the streets are filled with girls advertising them. First thing I learned....you are not allowed to take their photos on the street. This is because you pay money in the cafe for the privilege to have your picture taken with them or for a fancy one of them. This first pic is of one with a maid trying to show me a sign that says "Do not take our pictures." I don't know how she expected me to understand. It was in Japanese. And the high pitched voice talking at me sounded like she was advertising not admonishing. You can see how Kayo noticed I was being yelled at while I was completely oblivious.

 This gave me a challenge. ^-^
Taking pictures of Maids on the street without them noticing. Yes, that is my boob in some of the shots. I couldn't look like I was taking their picture. So I tried to look like an eager tourist with my camera at the ready for anything interesting.

 I think I did a good job and captured some good pics while we walked around trying to decide on which cafe we should try. There are many different types of maids ranging from conservative long skirts to neko-maids (cat girls) and vampire maids. It pretty much depends on your preference. We went with a typical cute short skirt pink maid. Called Pinky Maid Cafe.

 The floor was filthy, their shoes were scuffed, skirts were wrinkled and slightly stained. The decorations were overly cheesy and their speech was so high pitched dogs would howl. It reeked of smoke and cuteness.

 Not only is the menu expensive but you pay a fee just for walking in the door. You also get cheap food with drawings done by the maids. It's cute that's for sure and I can totally see why Japanese men would like it. You are given a lot of attention by cute girls with the idea of demure saturated in each girl.

 They feed you and if you are a man you are called Master. If you are a girl you are called Princess. It's an interesting arrangement. You can even pay for them to play a game with you. If you win you get a free picture.

 Maid cafes offer memberships which makes it cheaper for the frequent visitor. You also have to pic a maid to become a fan of, but you can not change your fandom until you reach a certain amount of points/spend enough money. This is true even if the maid "graduates" aka leave.

 Every cafe is different and I really only had time for one, but from what I understand the experience is pretty typical. My favorite part was trying to sneak pictures of them on the street. I love a good challenge.