Today we did Shibuya. My sister was actually the one to mention going to a maid cafe. They have a mixed reputation in popular media, even sometimes getting likened to seedy hostess bars but with younger girls, so we did some serious research on the matter an chose going during daytime (to be sure) to the Shibuya branch of Maiddreamin (look further down the page). It went roughly like this.
From Kotaku.com
1. You enter the place and is greeted by a girl dressed in maid clothes and taken to a seat. The room is decorated in fantastic Nintendo 80's style pixelated Super Mario style. It is really nothing seedy about it, more like a place you would have children's parties at.2. The entrance fee is 500 yen per person. Then you have to make an order which starts at roughly 500 yen (per person again) for a melon drink or the likes. My sister ordered a set of 1 ice-cream + 1 drink + 1 photograph with a maid for 1600 yen.
3. Rules are quite strict (no touching the maids, no gifts to them, no photographing, etc) so all is very proper in that sense. You enjoy the atmosphere which is a mixture of fascination, embarrassment and happiness, typically.
4. When they bring the drink, you and them sing a magic song to make the drink special.
5. After some time they come and sell glowsticks for 200 yen each. We were not sure if that was for them or the following...
From Kotaku.com
6. Sing and dance finale. All light their sticks! All (we were 5 persons there...) get out on the dance floor. Then one maid goes up on the small leaf scene and dances like she's on TV and really does a cute and well sung jpop number and we get cheered on to join along with dancing and waving by two assisting maids. All very touching and a little awkward in a sweet way.7. Cost in total I think was roughly 4300 yen (300 SEK/50 USD) which neither here nor there cost-wise for an odd but unique show number. It is all up to if you appreciated the "Live role-playing event" that it is.
8. To sum it all up, an experience to recommend for those having a passion for gaming and/or japanese culture or just cute things, and actually something you can bring your children to.
The second thing we did was to go to the modern version of "moving band sushi" (you know the places where sushi plates move past your seat and you pick the dishes you want and then pay according to the number and color of your plates) which meant ordering via computer screens and dishes flashing by on high speed tracks. The restaurant, Uobei Shibuya, was a lot of fun, even if a messed it up and ordered 7-8 dishes at the same time...
Welcome to our place, Harajuku! ^_^
Tower Records in Shibuya
Lisa Oriba listening stand.
So much jpop to choose from and so little money to spend...
New Studio Ghibli Movie
My favorites T-ara from Korea was there! Or a lifesize poster covering a whole wall, at least.
A whole magazine dedicated to moe...
Thick volumes of excellent french comics. I felt some real angst for A) not being able to buy them and B) then not being able to read the Japanese inside.
"POPEYE - Magazine for city boys" Can't get more hipster than that, eh?
Kyaru Pamyu Pamyu. You are everywhere here in Japan. I must have seen her in maybe 30 ads on TV, posters and in magazines.
OK, decide which lunch you want and note your number, "34"
Enter money, push your number and get your receipt and change
Give them half of the receipt and wait 5 minutes until they call your number and viola!
Again, sooo tasty and only 440 yen (30 SEK/5 USD). It is really the taste that is the killer. Spring onions, pork meat, orange peels??, seaweed, wasabi and tasty noodles in wondrous bullion.
Tokyo Hands was a store my sister really wanted to go to, but I liked it a lot too. Sex floors stuffed with all kinds of crafts, hobby, interior design, and so on, with a really good general taste level, makes it a really recommended experience.
Japanese design
If I get this right, you actually staple paper layer after paper layer till you have built a mountain...as a geographer this is f**king cool!
Such detail.
Tze germans is comings.
More wooden dolls.
Hi there, luck-bringing Daruma.
This game looked interesting
If you are going to smoke, you may as well do it with a Totoro lighter?
Cant get those Moomin trolls out of my head for some reason
Bento boxes in rows...
...and more bento stuff...
...and so on...
"Men, please use more beauty thingies, you hear me."
I can relate to that.
Maidreaming entrance. But no photographing allowed.
Hello Kitty luxury merchandise.
The classic Shibuya crossing
Bling bling galore.
OK, time for high tech sushi at the Uobei restuarant in Shibuya. You enter and get your spot (we got seat 9 and 10)
You order on the touchscreen what you want and then the sushi comes in a minute or two on this track and stops in front of you.
OK, the miso soup went fine.
And then I tried ordering several dishes but it all seemed to fail until this arrived. I did it! But...
dish after dish began appearing, until I was beginning to panic. All my button pushing had apparently gone away as orders. I blame the bad english that made you confuse the number of dishes you ordered with which order you order them. OK, it isn't that hard I guess, and I managed to eat all seven of them and enjoy them all, so no problems.
My sister ordered more tastefully.
Quite fun, please test the modern way of eating "Moving sushi". ^_^
(Click here for the next day)
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