Maid in Akihabara

She came to Japan to grow up but she pretends to be a 17 year old maid for perverted men!? I don't see the logic there.

Drawing on omelets?? Wth does that mean?

(Blissfully ignorant about the maid cafe scene)

Seems like soem sort of sexual fantasy of hers to turn on old men with a fetish.. she even admitted that she thought the cafe would be visited by mostly men.. why would she think this??? she's soo innocent..right! aw

To make a decent living in her home she has chosen an indecent job in Tokyo.

You gotta give it to the Japanese. They created a perverted sexual fantasy, created a whole slew of cartoon characters (drawn by other guys) to express that perverted underage fantasy, and now they have these perverted fantasy cartoon girls (drawn by sexually frustrated men for other sexually frustrated men) being emulated by the young girls (even foreigners) that they lust after.

Then they pay money to have their picture taken with these young girls.

Nice bit of social engineering.

Lolita was a gift from Russia with love, no?

Just seems all very strange to me no matter what the angle.

Maid in Akihabara meets Ugly Betty

Seems to me that all you bloggers have some kind of sexual hang-up still embedded from your culture. Why does does "sexual", "fantasy" and "fetish" have to mean perverted? Seems you have heavy religious denials of pleasure lurking in the background. You'd better check all these things out for yourselves first (God forbid, you might actually enjoy like it!)

Sebastian and bamboohat: I really liked what you both have to say. So, these maid cafes imply a sexual atmosphere? I ask sincerely. They are like Hostess clubs in that regard? Because this JT article suggests its just a cafe where the waitresses wear "French Maid" costumes (Thats how we referred to them when I was in High School 20 years ago in the Westbut I dont know why exactly). I didnt get the "sexual" angle when I read this article but I certainly see your points after reading your opinions.

This is so funny, for so many reasons:

1 She doesn't smile in the picture. Where is that "happy-to-be-serving-you" smile?

2 The "best part" of being a maid is the "other maids" because they are "young and very cute". Seems she likes women, not men. Which is a strange choice for a maid as they have to appeal to men.

3 In the last part she is basically saying "don't come here, this is the last place you want to be". Good promotion for her cafe, no?

very observant cadmium, seriously. I didnt see that at first either. Also the comments she makes describing guys from Spain, guys from Japan and neither paint a flattering picture. Then, ending with "they are in love, but i dont want to know." also makes it sound like No Dude in the world has a shot.

She came to Japan to grow up but she pretends to be a 17 year old maid for perverted men!? I don't see the logic there.

you beat me to this particularly jarring example of irony

i think the thing that is odd about the maid scene, not that i can claim to be an expert, is the "safe" borderline sexuality, not to mention paying to have the company of women (hostesses? geishas?). after all, are we not seeing a slump in fertility in japan? is all this asexuality, or sanitised sexual attention a cause or effect of the slump in fertility?

basically, sexuality is a fact of life. either do it (healthily and legally) or don't do it at all and dedicate your life to science or something. treading a weird middle-ground of wanting women, but not having the gall to act up it healthily and instead being reduced to paying to safe titillation is not a good for society in my humble opinion

She's employed there so there must be a steady enough stream of supporters or people who like her (just because I don't think she looks that good or others, doesn't mean other's don't have a fetish for something like that) any case, another feel good story, hope she gets better in her learning of Japanese, it certainly helps.

"Anna Perales..17 sai desu"

Oi Oi

What is with all the hangups in the posts here? Talk about judgmental! womanforwoman are you for real? Where did that hostility come from?

The maids are not my type, but there is nothing wrong with being attracted to that style anymore than being attracted to say, 'athletic' girls, or brunettes etc. And what the hell is wrong with fantasizing about a girl not giving you crap when you ask her to do something for you? hahaha, is it something sick and twisted for a man to fantasize about not having to beg and jump thru hoops for physical affection? Or heaven forbid that your partner would enjoy it?

And why rank on shy guys? For God's sake, do you think every guy is a Don Juan that sweet talks girls? Even in america, lots of guys are shy, fall in love with the waitress in the Denny's and go there for breakfast 4 times a week until they manage to strike up a conversation and it blossoms into romance. That happened to one of my buds and he would have been no stranger had he frequented the maid cafe because Anna made him feel special.

Sounds to me like Anna is having fun and actually doing something to deepen her understanding of Japanese life, language and culture. Good on her!

Seems to be better than beeing one of another unemployed in Spain or good ol'Europe. She's not too beautiful, but nice enough to attract odakus...

Oh yeah, this will certainly help her grow up.

Well, she will learn more about Japan in a week at the Maid Cafe than by working a year at NOVA ; ) And why would she not grow thru this experience of dealing daily with customers, management and other staff? She would grow more by getting coffee for the salarymen at OOO KK? What is with the professional prejudice?

Hakujinsensei, whats with the melodrama? we're just talking here. Why are you throwing these harsh judgements and crazy comparisons all over people's opinions?

she looks like a nun. next popular thing nun's cafes

TokyoHustla, you beat me to it. If she's on a student visa (which I assume she is, since she is a student), then she must have a working permit. However, the working permit clearly states that entertainment-related jobs (in bars, hostess, etc) are forbidden. But I'm not sure what's the legal status of this maid thing

I believe the limitation is "adult entertainment related industries" eg. bars, hostesses, pachinko parlores etc.

Since maid cafe's are generally open to everyone including families of all ages, it probably doesn't count, now of course there are other types of cafes out there as fronts as well, but I doubt the one she works as is one of them.

Hey I'm on the same boat, she'll probably learn more about Japanese culture and language working there then at Joe's ABC language school, though she's Spanish and not English but you get my point.

Nice body posture. Otaku!

"eternally 17"

Does she know Zac?

It is not hostility. It would be nice if 22 year old Anna from Barcelona found something else to do to make a living. I don't like it when young women demean themselves and do wierd things. She can might as well work in McD's or some fast food joint. What is she going to do when she turns 40? She is going to feel miserable about her past?

it is very difficult for a foreign woman to find a good job. Maybe this is the only place they were open minded to take a foreign woman. i admit this is a stupid job but I have worked many places and all my jobs were very stupid although respectable.

in the end, she is being nice to people. honorable in my book. anna has nor should she have anything to regret unless there are a bunch of people sitting around telling her she is wrong for not fitting in their social and moral mold.

Womanforwomen - and it would be nice if everyone was able to work as the CEO of a multi-national corporation. Um, are we done dreaming about Utopia yet? Working in a restaurant that employs servers is considered a step UP from Micky D's or other fast food restaurants. Why would you wish for her to take on a job with even LESS stature in the business world?

In these economic times, if you are working, making enough to pay your expenses, and don't go home a night hoping none of your friends saw what you do for a living, then you should count your blessings and press on!

In these economic times, if you are working, making enough to pay your expenses, and don't go home a night hoping none of your friends saw what you do for a living, then you should count your blessings and press on!

Hear hear. What's with all the haters? She's 22 for god's sake. Presumably you were running Cisco at that age, let the rest of us just get on with it.

"I came to Japan six months ago to... grow up as a person."

Glad to see that's worked out.

She probably makes more in a month than the average English teacher and many people are jealous. If she enjoys her job and is making friends then good on her. If she is enjoying her time in Japan then double good on her. Come on, she is an every day person, one of us - who came to Japan to find an experience. She obviously has and didn't have to work for an Eikaiwa, people should be cheering her and not hating her.

If families and women go into the cafe she works at then it is no different than a Gusto or Joyfull. Except for the uniform she wears, which looks no more revealing than what the average OL wears. Not every one coming here is willing to teach English, or become a gaijin salary drone.

Perhaps she is very good at her job and the return customers enjoy her good service. Most restaurant wait staff take the order and you do not see them again until they bring the food with the check, and good luck getting even a water refill after that. Triple good on you Anna!

ptolemy+ These jobs pay 700 to 900 Yen per hour. Unless they get "presents"like hostesses then they are not paid as high as English teachers.

Is this a good job? No, but it is a job & that is about all this girl really wanted. She’s 22 & wants to experience life in another country while she is still young. She also wanted to get away from the close knit nature of the Spanish family & live on her own & it is in that sense that she believes she will grow up. She can’t teach either English or Spanish because she probably can’t speck either language well enough. (She is Spanish but comes from Barcelona so speaks Catalan as her first language).

But how have our resident experts on all (negative) things Japan seen this? She’s almost been accused of being lesbian because she likes the other maids & isn’t interested in the male customers. It is believed she will regret the error of her miss-spent youth when she is 40. We have had a complete analysis of Maid café idea as being a sexual fantasy constructed by the very people that live in this fantasy with the added indulgence of the young girls that pretend to be even younger than they are.

She is a gap year student learning the language doing a job like thousands of others around the world. Maybe she doesn’t have parents that can afford to pay for their daughter to do this so she needs to work. She is doing a safe job & having fun hurting no one. I am sure her friends in Barcelona are seriously jealous. Good for her.

Maybe the fact that she seems to be enjoying herself is the reason for all the venom? Some here seem to spend so much time wallowing in their own misery that their brains can't grasp the concept of someone actually enjoying their time in Japan.

I love the whole thing. Is pretty absurd, isn´t it?

Embarrassing! That's all.

Good to see a foreign woman breaking away from the norm.

grafton and Unigidon, happiness is not allowed here on JT. You must rail against anything and all things Japanese. You must showcase your cultural superiority and superior intelligence by putting down even the most insignificant niche aspects of Japanese culture relentlessly. You must make reams of unfounded claims against every institution, and cast a slur on every aspect of the Japanse character. You cannot enjoy ONE minute here! Got it? ;-D

Sad! Yeah, it's good this chickie has a job, but the sub-culture of perverted otaku is sickening!

She's free, white and over twenty-one, and she doesn't seem to be hurtin' anyone.

Carry on, amiga.

I think legal age in Spain starts at 18 not 21. Just my 2 cents of cultural info. Cheers

The Maid from Spain lives on the Kanto Plain. Hope she's learning a lot about Japan, since that's the whole point.

roflmao ppayne. I think she's doing well. It's a different route than being an english teacher and she is certainly learing the culture from the inside out! I keep telling the kids to go to Japan for a year or two but you know how that goes. She has her head farther together than I did at that age. Why knock it?