I never wanted to visit a maid cafe in my entire life. In fact I had planned to stay away from maid cafes at every cost possible. That was until I heard Emi say she'd like to visit one at least once. Suddenly something in my heart changed and I made plans ti visit a maid cafe with Emi after she got off of work on Saturday.

She had researched many maid cafes on the internet and found @home cafe to have good reviews so one fateful Saturday afternoon Emi and I found ourselves searching for a maid cafe in Akihabara, Tokyo's electronic epicenter. The map she got from the internet lead us in circles but somehow we found the right place, marked by a line of people waiting at the front entrance.

While waiting in line we read that once inside, cameras were forbidden but with a set meal a polaroid would be included. I wondered what all the fuss was about these maid cafes. I vowed to resist their cuteness and enter into the cafe as an objective researcher.

When the first maid with blonde, curly hair and a pouffy skirt greeted us with her rehearsed lines and cordial smile I remained unaffected. She explained the menu and the rules to us and left us to think about what we'd like to order. I had the whole thing figured out. Maid cafes were like dinner theater. Customers were the audience and the staff were the actors. Each maid played a character in the "show" entertaining guests. It was actually a really interesting concept.

Looking around I saw a small stage at the front of a really small room. We had been seated at a counter, but there were several tables and booths in the restaurant as well. In one booth there was a family consisting of a mother, grandmother and two pre-teen boys. At one table there was a couple. At the end of the counter there were three guys who all seemed to be friends who trekked to the cafe together. To my left was a single guy who seemed gleeful as he showed his polaroid photo album to a maid from the cafe.

Then we were greeted by the second maid. She wore cat ears and had long, straight black hair. Her name was Ichigo and after her introduction she tilted her head to the side and said, "Nya" while lifting one "paw". Suddenly a huge smile spread across my face. That "nya" had been incredibly cute.

It wasn't just cute, though. It was real. It was like she broke character a bit and broke the 4th wall. It might have been part of the act, but there was a bit of playful "nanchattene" in that "nya".

And then my face turned red for a bit while my heart melted.

I looked again at my surroundings. I saw the maids having fun as they entertained their customers. Some were playing games at the tables. Some were taking photos with customers at the stage area (they would take a polaroid of you and then afterwards go to the counter to decorate it with hearts and cute icons). But the most interesting was the way they would bring the orders. Each menu item had its own set procedure that including customer participation. For example when they brought out coffee they would stir in the sugar and milk saying, "mazeh, mazeh" (which is an incredibly cute way to stay "stir" in Japanese). They would keep stirring until the customer put their hands on their hand like a cat or bunny and make a cat or bunny sound (something like that anyways). When they brought out an entree there was a whole spell they had to do. It was supposed to bring love and warmth to the customer so they enjoyed the meal, but the customer had to say the spell too. At the end of the spell they would make a heart shape with their hands and pretend to beam love onto the plates. If omlete-rice was ordered they would draw a cute little images with ketchup on the top. I asked for a cat. I wanted to take a photo ... so I brought it (the omlete) up to the stage when I went for my polaroid picture.

A maid cafe is really an amazing place and I highly recommend visiting one when you feel down. I left the cafe in the best mood ever. I am so happy that I visited one at least once in my life.