I went to Naha on vacation, and a little bit out of topic, I really recommend the place. It is Japan, only with people 1000 times warmer. It’s not that Tokyo dwellers are cold, they’re just… shy. Not at all in Okinawa, everybody is warm, smiling and willing to look at life from a good side.

Now, Naha is the capital of Okinawa, if you go Okinawa, you will most likely land in there. There is a quite recently finished monorail (the Yui-rail), which takes you from the airport to downtown Naha. Most likely, you will want to get off at Kencho-mae station, which lies near the far west of Kokusai-dori, Naha’s most lively street, where most commercial establishments, including this wonderful maid cafe lies.

Even though I wasn’t originally planning on entering LOVE♥PLUS, I have to admit that as soon as I landed in Okinawa, I looked online on my cell phone for maid cafes in Okinawa. I wasn’t really serious about it, as maid cafes outside of Tokyo and Osaka are not so common (so far, I haven’t even been able to find one in Kyoto). And information was scarce. I found some reviews dated 2 or 3 years ago, so most likely such a place would no longer exist in oh-so-far-away Okinawa.

Not only was I so wrong, but I learned that Naha, while far from being the next Akihabara, is quite otaku-friendly. Apart from this maid cafe, it has several game centers with the latest games (I couldn’t find GFDM XG though, but that one’s not -that- common even in Tokyo) and it has a quite well stocked and pretty lively Animate store, which I found has the best cosplay section I’ve seen on an Animate so far.

On my second day in Okinawa, after enjoying some really nice scuba diving, I went for a walk on Kokusai-dori and while I was spacing out I saw a girl doing Haruhi cosplay. I kept on walking until I went like “huh? what was that?”. I went back, and my suspicions were right. There is a Maid cafe right in the middle of Naha. To get there, you walk up the street from the west end of Kokusai-dori, some 2 or 3 blocks, on the left side right on the street, you should find this place. Very easy to spot.

Technically, LOVE♥PLUS is not a maid cafe, but a maid/butler cafe. I suppose this is to appeal to members of both sexes. and it opened quite recently, as you can see on the picture at the top of this article. After I confirmed that this was indeed a maid cafe, I went in. This was the usual drill: you get in an elevator and you go up to the third floor where a very cute maid greets you.

Now, LOVE♥PLUS is a maid cafe a little bit on the expensive side. It charges 500 yen as a non-consumable table charge, which would be much more than enough to scare me away if this were Akihabara. But you don’t get the chance to go to a maid cafe in Okinawa every day, do you? As you enter the place, the maid who greeted you explains you about the system and the rules of the house, which are very standard: no pictures, no touching (this was actually written!), etc. After you enter the place and take your seat, they bring you a basket in which you can put your bag, which is then covered by a cloth and placed right beside you. Classy.

I was quite fortunate that they were doing a double Evangelion/Haruhi event, which translates to two additional menus, one for each of the celebrated series. The normal menu was quite standard: Omurice, pasta, soft drinks and desserts. If my memory serves me right, there were no alcoholic beverages available. Prices were a little bit high, but still within normal ranges: Pasta for 780 yen, soft drinks for 380 yen. However, the special menus were quite odd in that they offered things with some quite bombastic names (Nagato Yuki’s Data Integration Thought Entity Special Drink), yet didn’t bother to explain what those drinks were supposed to be.

Well, I ordered my drink, actually a Nagato Yuki’s Data Integration Thought Entity Special Drink, and the maid asked me if I was okay with drinking carbonated drinks. I was like “…yes?”. I also ordered some pizza mentioned in the Evangelion menu. While I waited, I took a little more detailed look at the cafe. LOVE♥PLUS is a single and quite spacious room with tables on two sides: the right side is the couch side, with of course, couches for drinks; and the left side is the window side, with more regular tables, but with a nice third floor view of Kokusai-dori.

At the far end of the cafe, they have a humongous screen showing some anime. When I went there they were showing some Naruto, but when the episode finished, they changed to one of the Endless Eight episodes, and then the next one. They also have lots of anime themed decorations, such as K-On! figures and posters. The place is quite neat, yet decorated on the relaxed side, unlike more formally themed cafes. I think the entire place can seat some 20-25 people, which is kinda low for a room that big. This means that you have your own space and can relax as much as you want.

Also, while I waited, the girls came and talked with me. So far, the maids have been the most friendly among all the maids I’ve met in Japan. They were quite curious about me, what I was doing here, and some more anime/manga related talk. In the end I ended  up talking with two girls, and for some strange reason, both asked me which one was my favorite K-On! character… I wonder why.

Eventually, the food arrived. The Evangelion pizza was a little bit small, but very well decorated, and pretty good tasting. The Nagato drink was quite large, and it had some cranberry ultra-sweet taste to it. I liked it pretty much (as expected, it was carbonated ^^). Also, to make the drink taste much better, the maids asked me to do a moe-moe-kyun on the drink (which is quite common in maid cafes all over Japan, by the way, since K-On! made it so famous), and I do have to admit, it worked.

One of the girls was wearing glasses, and you know how much of a megane-kko maniac I am, but on closer inspection, those were actually glasses without lenses and a quite thick and phony looking frame, not unlike what you would find in a prank store. I wonder what that was about?

On their website they mention quite a long list of maids and “footmen” (the butlers). I have no idea where all of they were, as I only met three maids (the two I mentioned before, and the Haruhi cosplay girl at the entrance), and one butler, who gave me the basket to put my bag in it at the entrance, whom I think was either a girl, or a really effeminate man (sorry man, if you’re reading this).  But I would really like to see some more of the staff.

As you could have possibly guessed, the ambience and feel of the place is more on the playful side, like popopure in Akiba, than on the formal side, like M’s Melody in Nagoya. Uniforms are not, for the lack of a better word, uniform, but they are pretty cute. All in all, LOVE♥PLUS can be thought of a regular cafe with maids in it, who talk to you about anime, and are really nice.

A very obvious miss on this cafe, is the offer of taking a picture with one of the maids. If you girls are reading this, you should really implement that. They also have a quite unusual point card system, in which you get a point each time you go into the cafe (regardless of how much you spend), and after 10 points, you get a “Rank up”. What you can do with the points is not specified, and may have been left as an exercise for the reader?

Their website is very basic, and last time I checked, the events link was broken. I would really like for them to fix that as soon as possible.

All in all, I liked LOVE♥PLUS. The fact that it is in Naha is very good, as it is a very good reason for me to go back to Okinawa; and the friendliness of the maids really made me fall in love with this place. I would really like for other maid cafes to learn from LOVE♥PLUS that it is possible to be friendly without having to look like a kyabakura, like some places I’ve been to. However, they should improve their website, their point system, offer pictures, remove the table charge system, and definitely get that girl a pair of real glasses.

If you have the chance to go to Naha, you should really go to LOVE♥PLUS.

Now for our datasheet:

• Name: LOVE♥PLUS (Love Heart Plus)
• Location: Naha, Okinawa
• Homepage: http://rabupura.com
• Address: 3-3-1 Kumoji, Naha-shi, Okinawa-ken. New Sanpalco (?) Bldg. 3F.
• Opening hours: 11:00 to 22:00. Fridays, Saturdays and the day before Holidays, until 23:00.
• Rules: 500 yen table charge, 60 minute limit when the cafe is full, one drink order is required. Smoking is prohibited.

The first thing you will notice about this place is the unusual way to get into the cafe. For maid cafes, you normally enter a building, and the first thing you see is an elevator that will take you to the desired floor. However, the big difference with this place is that you need to enter a gachapon (those machines in which you put money to get a capsule with a random toy inside) store called “Gee Store”, walk to the far end of the store and then you will see the elevator. This small detail may be a little bit confusing, but once inside, it’s a maid cafe.

This cafe is located on the sixth floor of the building, and the elevator is rigged so a chime rings as the elevator door opens. Once inside, a girl will take you inside and show you to your table.

The layout can be though of a simple rectangle with several tables for two or four, with unobstrusive divisions between every few tables, which I really appreciate as they give you a somewhat better sense of privacy. A rough count indicates that some 30 people can fit inside the cafe, which is neither small nor large. Quite like the average size for a maid cafe.

As I mentioned before, I would classify this cafe as a formal style cafe. The maids sport relatively unadorned long skirt victorian style uniforms, they are very formal in their way of addressing you and in the way they move around, and the menu is quite elegant.

I’ve been now several times to this cafe. The first time was last summer, when they were celebrating an Evangelion themed event. As you can see on the picture here, I ordered a cheesecake with a NERV design drawn in cocoa powder. As you can see, they are very careful with all the details, the logo on the plate is at the top, the four spots of chocolate syrup in the plate are perfect, and pretty much everything is well taken care of.

Now, you may ask yourself why do I have pictures inside the cafe, when pictures are usually forbidden? Well, Cure Maid Café is so far the only maid cafe I know of, which lets you take pictures inside, with your camera. Pictures of the maids and other guests are forbidden, but anything else is fine. HOWEVER, you must ask any of the maids for permission BEFORE you take your picture, and they will ask you to show them the picture afterwards. After they verify there are no problems with your picture, it is yours to keep. Of course, this is free of charge.

Food is very good and reasonably priced. They have separate lunch, teatime and dinner menus, exchanged at  3 pm and then at 5 pm.  Prices range for food from 800 to 1000 yen, soft drinks go at around 400 yen, while alcoholic drinks go for 500 yen. This is similar in price, or even less expensive than other regular cafes in Japan such as Doutor and Pronto.  They also offer dinner sets from 2000 to 4000 yen.

There is no table charge, and takeout is available only for cakes (except for chiffon cakes), with a minimum order of 2 cakes. Takeout is not available on the midsummer because of the heat though.

I tried the cutlet curry rice, and it was very good, with a nice quantity of food. I did find the lack of pickles (tsukemono)  for the curry a little bit disappointing though.

Even though it is a very formal cafe, and I have not seen further interaction between the maids and the clients apart from the orders, they still focus on the otaku culture with a large amount of events, such as the Evangelion one I talked about before, and also have many others that coincide with the launch of new anime series.

They also seem to offer violin/flute/harp concerts every saturday evening. An additional charge of 300 yen is required to attend it, and as it may be quite popular, they recommend on taking a reservation. I have not yet attended one of these performances.

Their point card system offers one stamp for every 500 yen in purchases. After 20 stamps (at least 10000 yen), you get a 500 yen discount ticket. Not bad, but could have been a little more imaginative. Additionaly, they have a small goods store, with figures for sale, as well as tableware with the cafe logo imprinted on it.

There is one thing though I did not like about this cafe. The aprons worn by some of  the maids are quite dirty. It’s not a moe type of dirty (if there is even something like that), but more like a “this apron has been washed 10000 times” type of dirty. I find it quite noticeable and very unappealing. Maybe it is supposed to appeal to some type of otaku (definitely not me), but I think it is completely unnecessary to keep those aprons, and replacements should not be very expensive for them.

Apart from the aprons, I liked this place a lot. The is as far as I know, one of the most successful maid cafes in Akihabara, so please be sure to give it a visit.

Now, for our basic information:

• Name: Cure Maid Café
• Location: Akihabara, Tokyo
• Homepage: http://www.curemaid.jp/
• Address: 3-15-5 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo-to. Gee Store Akiba 6F.
• Opening hours: 11:00 to 20:00. Fridays, Saturdays and the day before Holidays, until 22:00. Sundays until 19:00. Last order 30 minutes before the store closes.
• Rules: No table charge. Maximum stay of two hours. Reservations and special requests are possible.

It was our first time in Akiba, so we had no idea how to look for maid cafes, much less what to expect. Was it going to be too ecchi for what we could handle? (Unlikely ^^) What we were sure is that it was going to be a new experience.

After the sun set, we started moving to the secondary streets and alleys in Akiba, if maid cafes actually existed, they would most likely not be right by the huge stores in Chuo street. However, after looking for a while, nothing seemed like it would be what we were looking for. It was getting a little late, so some talks about going back started to emerge.

Finally, we found a standing banner with maid drawings on some alley, it had some kind of menu, so that was very likely what we were looking for. The prices startled some of us, because paying 500 yen for a drink was a little bit excessive, but after discussing it for a short while, we decided to go into the shop and see it with our own eyes.

There were four of us, two boys and two girls. I don’t remember who entered first, but I do remember that we were not welcomed with the usual “Okaerinasaimase, goshujin-sama!”. This is a little bit of a problem when you go as a foreigner, since they don’t know what to speak in, and japanese are usually very shy when speaking English.

As we were shown to our table, I noticed that there were some three or four girls waiting on the tables, all of them with the same cute black uniforms. The place itself was quite ample, and unusually white. There were manga books you could freely get to read, and there was a small sofa where you could play famicon with the images projected onto the wall. This was separately charged, though.

After our drinks were served, and we kept on talking, I saw one of the maids serving something that seemed like popcorn to another client, in a huge bottle/container. Kinda like this:

Crude drawing aside, very moe indeed.

Some of the girls came to our table and chatted us up, and we left shortly after. I don’t remember many other details about this place, but I do remember that I went back to our hotel with a nosebleed >_< (true story).

I went back sometime in late 2008, but for some reason, the feeling was a little bit off. This time it felt more like just a regular cafe with maid uniforms. It must have been because it was a weekday or something like that.

This cafe, however, closed sometime around April, 2009. I even found a farewell party video on youtube.

Day 3 is tomorrow and has most of my favorite circles. Also, I’m almost out of money. Let’s hope I can make it to the 20th!

Also, today (2nd day), the doujin circle to which I belong was selling  a book which included a few of my illustrations! I’m so happy to have my own creations at the comiket for the first time!

Just wanted to share that with you.

Now, back to the maids ^^;

I had went to Osaka for a few days, so I decided to stop by Nagoya on my way back. Since I hadn’t originally planned for this stopover, I had no idea where to go on a single day in Nagoya. Not willing to go back home after only going to Nagoya castle, I decided to search online for some information on my cell phone. I quickly found this amazing guide, which I strongly recommend if you happen to find yourself in Nagoya.

Oosu is a really nice district, even though it’s not as full of otaku stores as Akihabara or Nipponbashi, I liked it very much. Also, the large amount of high quality game centers is a huge plus for Oosu.

Now, the guide I used briefly mentions the existence of a maid cafe, and the author only mentions that it is nearby the Mandarake shop. However, after looking online some more, I eventually found M’s Melody.

Oosu is quite tricky, and all streets look the same, so it is very easy to get lost in there. Also, as M’s Melody is not very widely advertised, it may be a little difficult to find.

Starting at Oosu Kannon station, go through the temple and enter the covered streets of Oosu (either one of the two entrances are okay). Walk straight through the covered street, and cross the first non-covered street and keep walking straight. At the second non-covered street that you find, turn left and walk some three to four blocks. Keep a look to your right for the Good Will store (it is quite large). At the actual Good Will store building, M’s Melody is located on the basement 1 floor. There is also another maid cafe in there called Comok.

As soon as you reach the entrance, you are requested to stay there and chime a bell so one of the maids comes, welcomes you and shows you to your table.

The first thing you will notice about this cafe is the copious amount of formalities involved everywhere. By formal and sober I don’t mean that you have to wear a suit and tie to go in ^^. However, I do believe that the training these girls have is much more extense than those at other cafes. Unlike other places, in M’s Melody everything seems to be coreographed, from the lines they say, to the way they move, to some events that happen during the day as I’ll mention a little later. Of course, the uniforms are exactly the same for all the girls, which are very neat with exquisite long skirts and adorned with delicately plane aprons.

To illustrate my point regarding the formalities, for instance, as for the way they move, each time a maid approaches or leaves you, they do it in exactly the same way with some very slow moves and deep bows. I haven’t seen this in any other cafe, and the idea that this is not simply a cafe with pretty girls in maid-looking costumes, but a place with elaborate settings and excessive attention to the details, in order to ensure that you are most comfortable for the entire time of your visit is probably what I liked the best about this place.

Each spotless table has a small decorated bell you can use to call the attention of the maids when you’re ready to make your order.

I happened to go during the late afternoon, and precisely at 6, a beautiful clock they have sounds its bells. The entire event is very precisely cued by the staff so everybody takes notice of what is going on, and is quite pleasant to experience. According to the site, this also happens when the store opens, at 3 PM and when the store closes.

The cafe itself is a single large square room with some 16 tables, with lots of space so you won’t feel bunched up. They have a very soothing ambient, which makes you feel really comfortable. I even saw some clients sleeping in their tables very comfortably. You can see that most decorations go in the greens, whites and wood browns, which is very common in maid cafes.

The menu is quite varied and very reasonably priced. Drinks go for 400 yen and desserts start at 400 yen as well. The absence of a table charge makes M’s Melody the most inexpensive maid cafe I’ve been to. Everything adds to the awesomeness of this place.

As for the girls, they are very pretty, act very cutely yet formally and have the most beautiful spotless uniforms. They are very kind and will subtly approach you to start a small conversation.

It seems like they have a rather limited amount of events and goods for sale. They do however, have a point card system with one point for each 500 yen in purchases. You can use these points to get photos with the maids, which is usually forbidden.

For the first time in a maid cafe, I saw a sign on each table notifying customers about the special nature of the cafe, with requests to understand things that may be a little uncommon. This is a recommendation I would also like to extend to everybody who wishes to experience maid cafes.

Attendance is allowed for up to 90 minutes per visit, and the entire cafe is non-smoking. One thing to remember is that the cafe is only open from Friday to Monday over the weekend, and on Holidays.

Overall, I liked this cafe very much. The service has been the best I’ve experienced, and is really well priced. I strongly recommend it if you’re interested in the maid service experience. However, if you’re looking for sexy maids with miniskirts, then this is probably not the place for you. If I go back to Nagoya, I will doubtlessly go back to M’s Melody.

Some basic information:

• Name: M’s Melody
• Location: Oosu, Nagoya
• Homepage: http://www.ms-melody.com/
• Address: 3-12-35 Oosu, Naka-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi-ken, Good Will Entertainment Digital Mall, Basement 1 Floor.
• Opening Hours: 11:00 to 19:30.  Last order at 19:00. Only open on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays and Holidays.
• Rules: No table charge. A maximum time of 90 minutes is enforced.

Note: Sorry about the very bad quality of the logo. It’s the best I could retouch from a picture I took outside of the cafe.

Actually, this is the first time I do so, and I was not so comfortable with the idea, as food in maid cafes usually tends to be quite expensive (around 1000 yen, compared to 500 yen in the school cafeteria).

Nevertheless, for the sake of the blog (^_^;) I decided to spend a few more yen so I could give a review of another Maid Cafe. I had the Akiba Days guide with me, so I just decided to go to a random place I hadn’t been before.

The Maid Cafe I found myself in is called JAM Akihabara. Located in the B1 floor on one of the alleys, I have to say I had a little bit of a hard time locating it. The sign is quite small, and the place itself does little to stand out. This was clearly a place with a clientele different from those other large cafes, so it would definitely be interesting.

The place itself is a single rectangular room and can accommodate some 20 people, with the smokers’ section on one end, with tables with wall seats; the non-smokers’ section in the middle, with regular tables for 2, and the counter on the other end. One thing you will notice is how most tables in the non-smoking section are for two but only have one seat, pointing at the counter so you can view the maids. Of course, with the girls dressed in dark green maid outfits with mini skirts, who wouldn’t sit facing the counter >_<

I was met with a very pleasant surprise, as the menu is very reasonably priced, with lunch orders for around 600 yen (going as low as 500 yen). Add 100 yen and you also get a drink. You’d think that for this price you’d get a mediocre plate, but the order came with a very generous amount of food and very well presented. So far this is the Maid Cafe with the best food I’ve been to.

In addition to the very cute and revealing maid outfits the friend I went with could only describe as “oh yeah, I like it!”, decoration is pretty straightforward, and could easily pose for a regular restaurant, but it is all very well designed, as the green, brown and white colors the theme has can be found from the seats to the counter and to the maid outfits.

Service is relatively normal for a maid cafe. At least when I went there, I didn’t get my drink mixed by one of the girls, or any kind of role play involved. It is a restaurant with the girls dressed as maids.When I went there, there were about 5 girls (or Fairies, as their website calls) on duty, which is perfect. They are not talking loudly as in other cafes, but are idling instead. They do come from time to time to start some small talk. Overall, service-wise, this can easily appeal to those who are not into Maid Cafes but are curious about it, but may leave more hardcore otaku wanting some more.

They also have a point card system with one point for every 1000 yen in purchases, but since we split the bill, I couldn’t see how it works. However, I find 1000 yen for 1 point a little excesive, especially in a very well priced place as this.

Photography, as usual, is forbidden. Nevertheless, I couldn’t find a “Photo with maid” option in the menu, so it seems you can’t have photos regardless of whether you pay or not. Maybe with the point card?

I really liked the place, especially the food, which is very reasonably priced and of excellent quality. The girls are also very pretty and the uniforms suit them very well. The place may be a little bit low on service for a Maid Cafe, so I would recommend it for more mature or beginner audiences who may not be so much into Maid Cafes but want a not-so-intense experience. I do find it a little negative that they seem to have no events. Or at least they don’t show any in their webpage.

This is the basic information:

• Name: JAM Akihabara
• Location: Akihabara, Tokyo
• Homepage: http://www.jam-akiba.com/
• Address: 3-2-13 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo-to. First Basement Floor.
• Opening Hours: 12:00 to 23:00. Fridays, Saturdays and the day before Holidays, until 5:00 of the following day (with an additional 10% surcharge from 23:00 to 5:00). Last order for food is 1 hour before the store closes; 30 minutes before the store closes for drinks and cakes.
• Rules: No table charge. On busy times, a maximum time of 90 minutes is enforced.

The point of this list is to show which cafes are likely to get reviewed in the near future, and which ones I would like to go to.

Please check it out!

Even though most maid cafes are located in Akihabara, Maid House Dear Cafe is one of those that is not. Located near Yokohama station, you can find it according to their website’s instructions:

Starting by the gates at the west exit of Yokohama station, exit the station, and take town street number 5 (editor’s note: just as you exit, take a left, and go straight through the mall in front of you. When you exit the mall, you’re in town street number 5). Go straight and cross the Vivre 21 bridge, pass through the Tokyu Hands store until you reach the Okano-cho intersection, cross it and go through the street between the Yokohama ramen store and the Three-F (スリーエフ) convenience store. Within 50 meters (editor’s note: on your left hand) you’ll find Dear Cafe ♪.

A maid cafe in Yokohama is quite interesting for me, as going there is easier, faster and cheaper than going to Akihabara. I went with a friend, and we found that they were doing an event that precise day. The cafe was full and we could not go in, but we were offered with the choice of giving them a name and a cell phone number so they would call us when a table was open (this is a normal feature in Japanese restaurants and cafes). We received our call around 20 minutes later and we went back into the cafe.

The actual cafe is medium-size, and can seat around 25 people in several tables for two, which can be easily converted in tables for four or six, and also a counter at the end. Predominant colors were white and brown. The place was quite organized, but still felt very comfortable.

They have a very large menu, full of non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks, some food items, desserts, ice cream and many others. By far, this has been the maid cafe with the largest menu I’ve seen. Also, there are some special items (such as “Kimagure Curry” and “Kimagure Ice Cream”) which seem to change on a regular basis, because their actual descriptions in the menu are “Ask our staff about these”.

I didn’t see English menus, and to be honest, I don’t think they have them, but once again, that’s just my belief (Mainly based on the copious amounts of engrish in the Japanese menu ^^).

Right on top of each table, you’ll find the month’s events. Around half or more or the month’s days are events, which is much more that regular cafes. They have pajama events, cosplay events, omelet rice events, thank-you events (not so sure what these are about), staff birthday events and many more. They also have the whole year’s event calendar, and current events are also shown on their webpage.

One interesting feature they have is notebooks for clients to leave messages. Reading these notebooks is quite amusing, as you can see the type of people who go there. Some have very well drawn pictures, others have short messages, but the ones I found most interesting seem like essays, as they stretch almost an entire page. I wonder who goes to a maid cafe to write an essay.

In addition to that, there is also some manga available for you to read, but that’s also very common in maid cafes.

The staff girls were very pretty, each with their own costume. Since I went on a cosplay event day, each girl had a different dress, so I cannot comment on their usual maid costumes because I didn’t see them. Service is good as usual: they welcome you with “okaerinasaimase, goshujin-sama” and show you to their table, they take your orders, and may come to start a small conversation with you. So I would say this is a very common maid cafe. However, roleplay is kept very low, and service seems pretty much the same as a regular cafe.

I noticed that the staff was quite small, as there were three girls who had to wait on the tables, take care of the register, counter, bring the orders and talk with the patrons. They may be a little understaffed, but I never had to wait to make an order. It just seems a little bit quieter and less busy than other maid cafes.

Food and drinks were quite good, and they had very generous servings, judging by watching what other people ordered. You have to order at least one drink per person, regardless of whatever else you order; so if you order an ice cream like I did, you also have to order something to drink. This is a little counterintuitive, as the ice cream was more expensive than the drinks, and in my opinion is a small nuisance. Keep this in mind when you go.

Prices are a little bit elevated, with drinks ranging from 525 to 1050 yen, and food around the 900 yen range. If you plan to eat there, I might recommend their lunch sets, which include some soup, salad and a drink, in addition to a plate between several choices, for the total sum of 1260 yen. Add in a dessert between several choices, and the set sums to 1560 yen. Remember that this is only available for lunch, so if you order the same in the evening, be ready to pay almost twice that price.

They also have a point card system which involves a board game: each time you go and order at least 1000 yen (as opposed to once every 1000 yen), you can roll a die and move in a game board you choose the first time you get your point card, and depending on your landing position, you may get prizes such as pictures and free drinks.

Not being located in tourist-happy Akihabara, I think that Dear Cafe is much more of a specialized place, serving more to regular clients than just people passing by. I say this because the time I went there, a large amount of the people in the cafe seemed to know each other, as well as the staff. For these people, going to the same place several times, with no doubt gives them a much more comfortable experience. Nevertheless, the first times (or only time, for all that matters) you go there, you may feel a little off, and kind of like being in somebody else’s party, as everybody, including the staff, is talking and laughing calling each other by name.

I liked Dear Cafe because of their large menu and copious amounts of events. I didn’t like the atmosphere of being the ugly duck in a place where everybody is a friend of everybody except you. If you’re in Yokohama and don’t want to/can’t go to Akihabara, or if you’re looking for a place where you can become a regular and well-known client, then going to Dear Cafe is probably a good choice. However, if you only have one chance of going to a maid cafe, I’d probably recommend you to go someplace else instead, where service is more oriented to first-time clients.

Some basic information about them:

• Name: メイドハウスディアカフェ (Maid House Dear Cafe)
• Location: Yokohama, Kanagawa
• Homepage: http://dear-cafe.jp/
• Address: 1-6-29 Okano-cho, Nishi-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa-ken. Second Floor.
• Opening hours: 12:00 to 22:30, last order at 21:30 for food and 22:00 for drinks.
• Rules: No table charge, a minimum of one drink is required. There seems to be no maximum staying time.

Maid Cafe/Animation Studio Popopure is a relatively large, and quite popular maid cafe in Akihabara, just by the AsoBitCity shop (not the one on the main street, but the one after crossing the street).

I first learned about this place because several maids stand just outside the shop handing flyers. You can either go inside by yourself, or you can simply approach one of them and ask them to show you where the shop is. I had crossed that place several times when going to AsoBitCity, until one day I decided to actually go in with some friends.

This cafe is unique in the sense that it is not only a maid cafe, but also, as it is implied by its name, it is also an animation studio. This means that for the small price of 1500 yen, you get the unique experience of dubbing a 60 second animated feature, with your voice and those of some of the maids, and get the resulting video on a DVD.

I haven’t tried the video dubbing, but it seems like you do it right in front of everybody, because they have some microphones, a computer, and a projector screen in the middle of the room. While they’re not recording, they show a video of how the recording works, and it appears that they have a choice of about half a dozen of videos for you to try. One of those seems to be designed to be dubbed in English, so overseas patrons can also have this experience.

I don’t remember whether or not they had English menus, but I do remember that one of the girls was clearly American or European, who most likely speaks English fluently. So far, this is the first maid cafe I see with a foreign staff member. A wonderful thing indeed.

The cafe is quite spacious, with white and yellow colors standing out. Tables are for 2 and 4, but they also have a counter. In total, the whole place could possibly accommodate a total of some 20 people, which is a little bit large for a maid cafe.

As with many other maid cafes in Akihabara, the place itself is heavily decorated, but because of its size, it does not feel confined at all.

Service was excellent, and the girls were very active and cute, always trying to get smiles out of their customers, and they greet you with the usual “okaerinasaimase, goshujin-sama!”.

Also, as it is very popular in maid cafes, when they bring you your drinks, the maid gets you to say words like “let’s make it be very delicious!” with her, and by doing so, it does taste much better! ^^

The atmosphere is very casual and relaxed, but also quite lively. The girls are running around, and when they’re idle, they’re showing cute poses and dresses, and talking about how cute they are, so even if you go alone, you definitely won’t be bored. They are also very nice, and are more than willing to start a short conversation with you, but are by no means pushy.

Even though it is technically a maid cafe, not all of them had the same uniform, which adds to the variety; one of the girls was even dressed as a schoolgirl instead, acting more on the imouto (little sister) role. I found that very cute, especially as she said “bai bai!!!” (bye bye) to departing customers. Some others also have glasses, which is very cute as well.

There is no table charge. Soft drinks cost 600 yen, food costs 1200 yen and a dessert set (with a drink) also costs 1200 yen. This is pretty much the average for Akihabara maid cafes, but for the budget maid-cafe-lovers, there are cheaper choices.

Alcoholic beverages are also available, but the repertoire is quite limited. Because of this, I recommend you go with the soft drinks instead.

They also offer taking a picture of you with any member of the staff you wish, in a pose you wish. This costs 500 yen, and the picture is taken with their own instant camera and later given to you signed by the maid you took the picture with.

Popopure also has a point card system, in which you get a stamp for each 500 yen that you spend, with an additional stamp on rainy days. You can then trade these stamps for free drinks or even a free dubbing session, depending on the amount of stamps you have.

To be honest, I really liked this place, and it has become one of my favorites. Apart from the animation studio thing, Popopure is pretty much a very stereotypical maid cafe, the kind of which you see in anime and dramas. Standard cafes like this one are not as common as one would think, so if you come to Japan, and only have one chance to go to a maid cafe, I definitely recommend this one.

Finally, some basic data:

• Name: メイド喫茶・アニメーションスタジオぽぽぷれ (Maid Cafe/Animation Studio Popopure)
• Location: Akihabara, Tokyo.
• Homepage: http://popopure.com/maid/
• Address: 1-8-10 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo-to. Second Floor.
• Opening hours: 11:00 to 21:00, last order at 20:30.
• Rules: No table charge, you can stay 1 hour per order per person, up to a maximum of 2 hours.