Tokyo Maid Cafes: Where Japanese Girls Slap & Spoon-Feed Customers

I really haven't wanted to be "spoon fed" until I'm old and in firmed, and I never tried role playing either. Never say never Rayman.

At a Japanese maid cafe, customers pay good money to be pampered by cute, young girls in frilly costumes.

The role-play goes pretty far. Waitresses will get on hand and knees to take orders from "Master." Some even offer ear-cleaning and spoon-feeding.

There are dozens of cosplay cafes in Tokyo's Akihabara district. On weekends, lonely boys line up for a plate of ketchup-rice decorated by their favorite maid.

These eateries are an odd but harmless fantasy -- a space where nerdy "otaku" can get attention from anime and manga heroines. Some develop warm "moe" crushes on their favorite maid. For a few hundred yen, customers can buy decorated Polaroids, or capsule toys from "gashapon" machines.

Japanese maids are elusive creatures. Most of these cafes ban photography, since they cash in by selling photos of the girls. Try to take a photo of a maid handing out flyers in the street, and she'll cover her face and walk away.

However, I've had special access: I often bring TV shows to maid cafes, and photographed several for my Crazy Wacky Theme Restaurants: Tokyo book.

via La Carmina: Tokyo Maid Cafes: Where Cute Japanese Girls Slap & Spoon-Feed Customers (PHOTOS).