How Delightfully Condescending. 
“Our maids don’t call customers master and the girls are sweet rather than flirty,†Ms. Hancock said. “We want customers to come in and feel like they’re in Alice in Wonderland, not Hooter’s.â€
– Susan Hancock, owner of a new New York Maid Cafe. Who has never been to a Japanese Maid Cafe.
Check out this New York Times article on a recently opened American Maid Cafe. The owner does her best to distance herself from Otaku culture whilst simultaneously trying to sell that same culture to hipsters. It’s kind of amazing, in a “with an attitude like that they probably won’t be open by the next time I make it to New York” kind of a way.
If anyone is traveling to Tokyo anytime soon (or, you know, already there), you owe it to yourself to check out a real maid cafe in Akihabara. The experience really can’t be duplicated, and there’s a lot more going on culturally and psychologically, I feel, than what’s hinted at in the article. I know we had a good time during our visit…
– Christopher
Photo of a Murakami “DoB” sculpture from the Brooklyn Museum Murakami Show. Photo by me. Thanks to Nathalie for the heads-up on this article.
Chris,
When did you see the Murakami exhibit? I saw it back in May. Did you do a write up of the exhibit? If so, I missed it. I’m very interested in your impressions of the exhibit.
For what it’s worth, I saw a smaller Murakami exhibit in Boston a few years ago. It was bizarre and definitely a little unsettling.
Mushrooms with eyes or teeth can seem whimsical in a video game, yet awfully creepy when you’re actually surrounded by a roomfull of them. 🙂
Fucking hipsters.
Actually, this Maid Cafe is not in New York, but in Culver City California.
I’m interested to know more about what a real Maid Cafe is like, esp. since you say it goes deeper than the common conception… a conception that completely and utterly turns me off.
And thanks for the link; I’m actually more interested in visiting now that I know it doesn’t cater to otaku. Local lolitas like to go there and have tea together, and now I can kind of understand why – usually lolitas and maids go together like oil and water!
Hey Chris, did you know that apparently a couple years ago there was a “Maid Cafe” here in the GTA (just south of Pacific Mall). I’ve never been there and to be honest I don’t think it exists anymore, but if we ever go out there again maybe we can drive by and have a look.
http://imaidcafe.cansky.ca/
Chris – what *did* you make of it all? I went to one in Akihabara back in May, and I was a bafflement of many emotions.
(by the way – my thanks for the compious Japan coverage – instrumental in planning my own trip)
the next big thing is not a maid cafe, but a maid lounge like the Akiba Refresh club
http://japansugoi.com/wordpress/akihabara-maid-refresh-club-from-candy-fruits/