So only one day of the year can you experience something even close to a maid cafe in Japan, in Ann Arbor, but it is a super fun time, nonetheless!
I recently attended the anime convention, “Con Ja Nai,” hosted by the anime club at the University of Michigan. Part of that experience includes attending the maid cafe if you so wish. But reservations are a must! Usually you can decide if you want a “maid” (female) or a “butler” (male) to be your host/hostess. I would assume the guys do the same thing as the maids, but I’ve only ever had a maid so I’ll comment on that. Once seated, we actually shared a table with two other people, which was nice to meet others, and our maid took our orders, which can include popular items like, omelettes with rice (Omu-raisu), where the maid draws a cute picture on it with ketchup, or the popular rice ball snack, Onigiri. They also had crepes (I had a chocolate crepe), parfaits, and milk tea. There are usually other pretty desserts as well. While the food was prepared, all the maids and butlers got together and put on cute, synchronized dances for everyone. And by then, the food came! :) But before we ate, we had to do the whole cute heart thing, (where we say “moi, moi koo!” (or something similar) while making a heart shape a few times in front of us, that is supposed to add magic to the food, I think.) The maids and butlers also play games with you. The last time I went here, we played hangman, but this time we played a Rice Roulette (not as bad as you think), where everyone gets one, small Onigiri, and everyone eats the whole thing at once. Most have nothing in them except ONE, which has a very strong, and/or gross taste. There were even large projections of anime shows of the walls. In Japan, the maids will even address their customers as “master” or “mistress” and have even more things they can do with you for a fee, but that’s not too common in the U.S.
On a side note, there are also Butler Cafes. While Maid Cafes were originally geared toward male otakus (anime fans) fantasies, and involved lots of cute (yet also subtly sexy) behavior from the maids, now many women and foreigners enjoy them as well.
Butler cafes are catered more toward women, with the intention of the women feeling like a princess, as the men open doors, bend on one knee, take coats, engage in conversation, and even bring tiaras with the food. They will even lift you up as you take a picture with them. Interestingly enough, Butler Cafes were originally created with the intention of having foreign men as the butlers, as most Japanese women wanted western gentlemen they could meet.
Overall, maid cafes are really cute and have yummy, cute food. While Tokyo has an insane amount of maid cafes, other countries around the world do as well. So find the nearest one near you and try the experience! (Even if it is just one day at a convention)
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