Cosplay restaurants (コスプレ系飲食店) are theme restaurants and pubs that originated in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan, around the late 1990s and early 2000s.[1][2][3] They include maid cafés (メイドカフェ) and butler cafés (執事喫茶), where the service staff dress as elegant maids or butlers.
The staff treat the customers as masters and mistresses in a private home rather than merely as café customers as part of a role-playing performance central to the experience. Such restaurants and cafés have quickly become a staple of Japanese otaku culture.[4]
The popularity of cosplay restaurants and maid cafes has spread to other regions in Japan, such as Osaka's Den Den Town as well as to places outside Japan, such as Hong Kong,[5] Taiwan,[6] Singapore,[7] Mexico,[8] Canada,[9] and the Philippines.[10]
History
The idea of a cosplay restaurant was born in Akihabara, Tokyo, during the otaku boom of late ’90s-early 2000s Japan. Themed cafés started to make an appearance in the district as it became the haunt of manga, anime and video game fans. Cure Maid Café was the first permanent example, opening in 2001, and it helped to formalize the “maid café” style that became a vital part of Akihabara’s identity.
As of the mid-2000s, maid cafés came become one of the key images of Cool Japan, an official initiative to promote Japanese pop culture overseas.[11] These venues represented Japan’s engagement with “moe,” character performance, social fiction and performance.
After Akihabara’s success, similar cafés spread to other Japanese cities, and other locations in the Greater East Asia, notably in East and Southeast Asia. The origins and history of cosplay developed simultaneously with the global development of anime conventions and fan cultures. Many cafés outside Japan, however, mixed local pop influences with the general looks and service style of the original Akihabara model.[7]
Characteristics
Maid café
In a standard maid café the female employees dress up as French maids (occasionally, the maids may wear rabbit or cat ears for extra cute appeal) and refer to the customers as either Master (ご主人様) or Mistress (お嬢様). Upon entering one of such stores, the customer is greeted with the customary "Welcome home, Master" (お帰りなさいませ、ご主人様！), offered a wipe towel and presented with a menu.
Popular dishes include cakes (sometimes baked by the maids themselves), ice-cream, omurice, spaghetti, as well as drinks such as Coca-Cola, tea, milk or alcoholic beverages such as beer or, in some cases, even champagne. Other options (of service) include taking polaroid pictures (either of the maid alone, together with another maid or with the customer, which are then decorated using colored markers or stickers), playing card, video games, and/or even slightly more unusual ones, lighthearted roleplay interactions.[12]
Butler café
While most cosplay restaurants and maid cafes cater mostly to men, there is also a type for women called the butler café (執事喫茶). The butlers in these cafes are well-dressed male employees and may wear either a typical waiter's uniform or even a tuxedo or tails.[13]
Other variants
In other stores, the outfits and even the setting itself change. In school-themed cafes, for example, customers are referred to as senpai instead of Master or Mistress. Inside, regular tables are replaced by school desks and even the menu is served in trays reminiscent of the ones used in Japanese schools. Here are some other interesting themes.
Cat-maid café
Another sub-genre of maid cafe is the cat-maid cafe. Waitresses in these cafes will wear cat ears and tails and often make puns by meowing or punctuate sentences with a meow.[15] Additionally, food will often be prepared to resemble cats or kittens.
Tsundere café
These cafes have all the characteristics of a typical maid cafe with the addition of a personality theme. The theme has every maid assume a "tsundere" personality archetype wherein the servers in these cafes will often act rude or indifferent to customers. Additionally, some cafes like this allow for the patron to order special service which usually comes in some form of abuse like getting flicked in the forehead.[16]
Cultural significance and social impact
The cosplay restaurant has become a usual part of urban life in Japan, especially in Akihabara, when fans anime with the likes of manga and games. Staff members become midwives. Maids gently greet customers with lines like, “Welcome home Master” while butlers address guests with the politeness of English Manor.
Regulars state that it is not just for their themed food or fancy dress that they head for these performances but also the warmth and recolonisation. The setting is warm, inviting, and an engaging air makes it a bubble away from reality. The style of service was referred to as a form of emotional labor that connects people through play and imagination [19](Galbraith, Patrick W). Some tourists see maid cafés as places to escape from the everyday.
Others think the humour makes them light-hearted. According to anthropologists Kinko Ito and Paul Crutcher, cosplay cafés have been included in Japan’s “Cool Japan” project that promotes pop culture as an avenue to attract tourists and influence Japan’s image abroad.[20] Through the years, they have evolved as a business and a cultural icon; showing how performance and hospitality in conjunction with a fan culture can manifest in daily life.
International expansion
North America
One maid cafe which opened in the west was the "i maid cafe" located in Scarborough, Ontario, and was featured in CBC's newsmagazine, The Hour. The cafe was closed in November 2007 because management failed to pay back rent.[21]
In December 2007, Royal-T opened in Culver City, California, and was featured in several magazines, such as Elle and the Los Angeles Times. It was a combination of maid cafe, store, and art gallery. The restaurant closed after five years.[22][23]
In September 2008, a Japanese franchise Crepe House Uni opened in Davis, California, but closed in 2010. Their workers wore maid uniforms, but it was not exactly a maid cafe.
Maid cafés's worker concerns
Many maid cafés in Chinese cities have opened in recent years that take inspiration from Japanese culture. Some associated businesses have been reprimanded over management issues. A probe into “maid café” shops took place in a city in eastern China, as per media reports. Some employees experienced poor working conditions and workplace harassment. Certain power critics maid cafés draw on predominantly female labour to deferentially service mostly male clientele.[28]
Several activist groups have claimed that women in maid cafés may be exploited professionally, in China and elsewhere. They say the rise of cafés and their fantastical themes has opened up a debate on the use of young women in themed entertainment industries.
Due to the above reason, it is reported local authorities have inspected some places and reinforced workplace safety and labour laws.[29] Maid cafés are becoming more widespread but business adaptation remains troublesome for the different cultures and societies of the world.
See also
- Maid in Akihabara, a short Japanese television drama
- Cosplay
- Moe (slang)
- Butler café
- Maid café
- Catgirl
External links
- Maid cafe database
- Hang Out In Nerd Paradise (With Maids!) – article on the Kotaku website
- Maid cafe Chou Anime brings Japanese pop culture to Midtown – article in The Detroit News
References
- A Quantum City: Mastering the Generic^
- Chris Piers. The Origins and History of Cosplay The Robot's Pajamas, 11 May 2016^
- Best Cosplay Cafés in Tokyo^