As I have already mentioned for several times, Akihabara is famous for Otaku culture. Naturally, there are many attractions related to Japanese anime, manga, or games. The interesting point of walking around the streets in Akihabara is that you can see many young girls and boys dressed like an anime or manga characters. They are either costume players or staff hired by some cafes and restaurants to catch passenger’s eyes.
[source : https://www.tokyocreative.com/]
MAID CAFES
[source : https://japantoday.com/]
There are a lot of maid cafes all over in Japan, however, Akihabara is the origin of the this crazy boom of maid cafe. Basically you can see maid cafes wherever in Akihabara. If you turn your head to left side, there will be a girl dressed as a maid and tries to get customers to her working place, yes, maid cafe. Same thing happens even if you turn your sight to right side as well. Some maid cafes have become one kind of big corporate so they operate 7~8 maid cafes only in Akihabara. If we think of whole Japan, the branches they have will increase. This phenomenon shows that there are demands of many Japanese people and foreign tourists who love to visit here and enjoy this culture.
[source : https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1298566-maid-cafes]
Maid cafes are themed cafe where you can become a ‘master’ of staff dressed as a maid. All maid cafes share similar system. You will have to pay entrance fee and there will be extra charge for drinks. It’s not allowed to not order any drinks. After entering the cafe, maids will come to your seat and try to make you order expensive drinks. (Which is very similar to kyabakura, which means Japanese hostess clubs.) Taking photos are not allowed in most of cafes, however, some cafes allow you to take pictures if you order expensive drinks.
(1) @home CAFE
[https://www.tripadvisor.jp]
@home cafe is one of the most famous maid cafes in Akihabara. First, you will be surprised by its size. This maid cafe uses whole building, which consists of 7 floors. It’s possible for you to choose which floor you want to give a try because each floor has different concept and theme. Once you enter the floor, one staff(called as manager) will take you to the seat. Then, all you have to do is just to enjoy the cute atmosphere. The staff will sing a song if it becomes times for performance, though the lyrics of this song is mostly about ‘thank you master’. If you choose a higher course, you will have the opportunity to take a picture with maids. If you want to choose popular maid, there will be an additional charge for it.
(2) Maidreamin
[source : https://maidreamin.com/multilp/]
Maidreamin has 15 stores in Japan and 7 stores only in Akihabara. You need to pay JPY 500 for entrance fee and additional charge for drinks. Additional fee will be added if you stay there more than an hour. Just like other maid cafes, taking photos are strongly prohibited except for foods. The price of food is around JPY2000~3000, and the food itself is well decorated with cute characters. If you choose set menu, you can see performance and take picture with your favorite maid. The staff will ask you to say “moe moe kyun”, which can be very shy to speak out before you have your drinks or food. But don’t be shy. Every customer in the cafe must do it.
(3) Basic Rules of Using Maid Cafe
There are a few rules you must keep while using maid cafe. First, touching maids is strongly prohibited. I guess most of people don’t want to have physical touch with staff when you go to clothing stores or supermarkets. Please be same to staff at maid cafe as well. Trying to have personal relationship with maids is also forbidden. Please don’t do any behaviors reminds of stalker.
Gundam Cafe
[source : http://jpninfo.com/20186]
If you are a Gundam lover, you can definitely enjoy Gundam cafe. Gundam is a Japanese anime and this story is about giant robot manipulated by humans. All of their menus are completely related to Gundam. It is also fine to have drinks only because they have menus from meals to desserts. A lot of Gundam figures and accessories are displayed behind the wall and Gundam anime is being played all the time. You can also buy Gundam goods if you want to.
AKB48 CAFE
[source : https://magazine.japan-jtrip.com/article/tokyo/6067/]
I guess most of you already know AKB 48, a Japanese girl group with 48 members. Did you also know that what AKB stands for? It’s Akiba, yes, Akihabara! You can order food and drinks here at AKB 48 cafe. This cafe can be separated to two parts, which are dark and light part. In dark side, you can only order drinks including beer like a pub. On the other hand, you can have meals such as pancakes on the light side. The video of AKB 48’s concert is played all the time and you will see customers cheer for it even though it’s just a screen. If you are a big fan of AKB 48, you can buy AKB related goods at here as well.
game centers
(1) SEGA
[source : https://soranews24.com]
There are four SEGA game centers only in Akihabara. SEGA game center is full of crane games and they periodically update their machines depend on customer’s needs and the update of anime and manga. The interesting point is that SEGA game centers also have game machines that are not only controlled by stick and button but also by using all your body. There is no need to worry if you get hungry while playing games. This amazing game center has mini bar where sells small snacks and drinks. You can spend all day here if you want to!
(2) HEY
[source : https://retro-video-gaming.com/]
Do you want to play retro games and remind of your childhood? In particular, shooting and fighting games are prepared so there are many retro game manias visiting here regularly. The game center itself is so spacious that you can enjoy your childhood games under comfortable atmosphere. In addition to this, it doesn’t mean that they only have retro games. You can also find newest games while feeling the old history of games.
rent a pocket wifi
If you want to enjoy things above and make your travel to Japan more abundant, it is necessary to get online all the time. Regardless of its highly-advanced technologies, it is not easy to find free wireless(WiFi) hotspots in Japan. So, what we recommend for tourists who want to stay connected 24/7 and have exciting journey, is to use wifi rental services, which is also known as pocket wifi.
wifi rental japan is proud of being able to provide competitive price to you. It only costs JPY600(USD4~5) per one day. You can enjoy unlimited data wherever in Japan at any time with reasonable price.
*Advance mode only
*If you use more than 10GB within 3 days, speed limit will be applied to avoid congestion.
[source : https://livejapan.com/en/in-akihabara/article-a0001476/]
wifi rental japan wishes that all tourists have more comfortable and meaningful travel in Japan.
If you have any inquiries, please feel free to ask us.
