Monday 22nd, had a walk round Nihonbashi with some other teachers. It's the electronics/toys/comics/adult dvd district - if you're into one of those things, you must be into the others, right? By toys I mean any kind of collectible figure or model, usually of manga and anime characters. But the reason we went was to pay a visit to a maid cafe, of which there are several in Nihonbashi. Found ourselves a good one, called Maidolce (works better in Japanese, maid is pronounced 'maido'). Had a coffee and lingered for as long as possible, basically a normal cafe but you ring a little bell for service. And the girls are dressed as 'French maids'. We happened to go on 'Cat Ear Day' (of course!) so we got some added bonus cosplay madness. I think the service is supposed to be extra polite and respectful, but it's hard to tell in Japan. They weren't very demure anyway, seemed to be having a laugh - running around and being 'girly' but maybe that's part of the gimmick. Had to get a picture of course, seemed to be the done thing. There was a sign up explaining that asking for phone numbers and, disappointingly, stalking your favourite maid is frowned upon. I guess they get some over-zealous regulars.
No, I didn't draw that stuff all over the picture. Like my ears, though, and the bit that says I should come back again. If you're wondering what 'nyan' means, you shouldn't be because it's obviously the noise a cat makes. If you're wondering what the hell I'm doing (you wouldn't be the only one), see below
Not about to get battered and thrown off the premises by 'Hiro' and 'Ayano', just another version of the maneki neko pose I was supposed to be doing in my photo. Usually looks like this:
