Maid Cafes in Japan

In a few short weeks I will be off to Japan to visit a few of my closest friends! This will be the 6th time that I’ve visited in Japan and I can’t wait! In total, I’ve spent about a one and a half years living in Japan and have had many different experiences. One of these experiences being the “maido kisa.”

The last time I was in Japan was about a year ago and during that time I got the opportunity to check out a “maido kisa.” I had heard about “maido kisa” on the internet and knew that this was something that I just had to experience.

So what is a “maido kisa?”

Maido is how the Japanese say “maid” and “kisa” is Japanese for “cafe.” These kinds of cafes can typically be found in large cities like Tokyo and Osaka. They are usually located where nerds gather which is, yup, you guessed it.. electronics shops districts. For example, Akihabara in Tokyo, and Shinsaibashi in Osaka.

Anywho, I found one of these places in Shinsaibashi with my Japanese friend and while I was kind of embarrassed to go in, I just couldn’t help but satisfy my curiosity. I have to say it was a really interesting experience and while some people may be put off by the idea, its definitely something you should try. If you can’t speak Japanese, bring a friend who can as it will make the whole experience better.

A Maid Cafe is pretty much like any other cafe, in that you go in, take a seat, order a coffee or some light snack, eat, and then leave. The only difference being that the waitress is dressed in a French Maid uniform and speaks to you in super-polite Japanese. Another interesting difference is that when you go to order you don’t signal the waitress to come over with your hand, you ring a little bell(the kind of bell rich people use to summon their servants) on your table. I remember ringing the bell to call my maid over but because my table wasn’t in plain view, all of the maids would come rushing over anytime they heard a bell being rung. The bells all sounded the same so it was impossible for them to tell which customer needed help until they could make visual contact. It was pretty funny to see all of these maid emerge from a corner everytime a bell was rung.

I ordered an ice coffee and it cost around 400 yen which would be around $4 Canadian. Not that different from what you might pay in your local Starbucks. What was different was how my maid served it. After placing it on the table she started to stir it for me and instructed me in Japanese to let her know when to stop. Now that’s what I call service!

Another thing that you can do in a maid cafe is have your picture taken with the maid. This service is not free but its not that expensive either. It cost me 400 yen to take the Polaroid photo below. The maid also personalizes it by writing her own little message and making some cute drawings on it. Here’s what my maid did for me!

Another thing you may have noticed from the first picture is that these maid cafes also give hand massages! I suppose that this service is in demand for nerds suffering hand cramps from typing all day. I didn’t get the hand massage but I’m sure my maid had all the necessary qualifications to do so, should I had required it!

Every time a customer leaves the store the maid shows him or her the way out and opens the door for them. As the customer leaves the maid shouts in Japanese “Goshujin-sama hayaku okaeri kudasai mase!” which translates to “Please hurry back Master!” Mmmm can’t wait to go again!