Maid in Tokyo

On my first day in Tokyo I went to a maid cafe. Jeff and I went to "nerd town" aka "electric town" aka Akihibara and wandered about for a while. It was raining and a bit miserable out, so we decided to try and find a legendary maid cafe. After looking around for a bit, we found one on the 5th floor of a store called Don Kihote (or Quixote in English I suppose) which is a superstore of confusion- you can buy used Louis Vouttion, hilarious underwear, a feather boa and a sweat-suit among other things, including "maid costumes". We made it to the "maid" floor, which was full of the costumes, usually priced around $80. They aren't the "sexy maid" Halloween type maid- most of them have high necks and puffy skirts (which can go down to mid-calf) , although the Lolita Goth maid section was a little more risque. After waiting in line for about an hour (I've learned that Japanese people wait for great things--- so if there is a line it usually means it's going to be good) Jeff and I were given an English set of "directions" that referred to us (the patrons) as "your majesty" and "lords and ladies."

The directions told us that there was a 700Yen as a seating fee, you are expected to order something to eat or drink, you may not touch the maids, you may not take pictures, (the maid you see is courtesy of google) and your stay would be limited to an hour. Also, your maid would "pour love" into your food. On the wall was a big mural with "Welcome, my master" written in different languages. Great things indeed.

Once inside we were seated, and ordered a drink and perused the menu. We found out that we would also be getting a membership card, to keep track of our visits. The more visits we had the more impressive our title would be. From "Lvl 1 My Master" (1 visit) to "Legendary Master" (over 200 visits) Beside us were 2 guys, maybe in their early 20s, and one had a new "master" card, he had over 50 visits (quick math lesson: 50 visits x 700Yen/visit x 1drink at 600Yen/visit = 65,000Yen or about $650). This guy had received a special gift, a card signed by all the maids, but the whole time he was there he couldn't even look his maid in the eye. (Friends of ours went another time, and there was a Japanese guy who waited in line with them for over 3 hours, went in for an hour and then went right back in line).

Our drinks came and love was indeed poured into them, in the form of an odd song-type-thing involving making a heart shape with our hands. Jeff and I decided to make out visit complete with a photo and learned that the new kawaii (cute) pose is to look like a cat (but I think it just looks like you're boxing...).

Subway ride to Akihibara: 230Yen
Seating fee: 700Yen
2 drinks: 1600Yen
1 photo: 500Yen
being referred to as "your majesty": priceless