I really don’t like Akihabara very much, the place is just full of electronic shops, a couple of model shops and that’s about it. Akihabara used to have lots of things go on when they used to close off the main road and have lots of cosplaying singers, dancers and other nerdy stuff there, but events put a stop to all that. I generally only go there if I feel the need for a some gadget or an import video game.

So now the only things of note in Akihabara is the awesome man rapping about contact lenses and Maid Cafés. Maid Cafés are kind of unusual, the seem to cater for the the fantasies of Otaku where basically the waitresses dress in costumes based on French maids and try to act cute or “moe“.

I first went to a maid café over a year ago and found the whole experience a bit uncomfortable. My friend and I ordered overpriced tea and when the maid arrived with it she made a heart shape with her hands and then said something I didn’t understand followed by “Chu, Chu, CHU”. With each chu she thrust her hands towards the cup and encouraged us to do the same. We just looked at each other, slightly frightened.

I found the only enjoyment I got from the whole expirience was watching other peoples reactions to this Chu Thrusting. One guy was really into it, the guy wearing a novelty hat and clutching the Maid Café DVD, he was enthusiastically chu-ing along with the maid. Another guy did the chus and then as the girl turned away he cocked his head in a WTF kind of a way. In the corner was a pair of guys laughing so hard that one almost fell off his chair.

I left that maid café thinking that I would never go to another one again. Later however I heard stories about other maid cafés, they sounded like they offered strange and unique experiences. Such as the one where the maid treats you badly until you turn to leave, then they are suddenly mega subservient, the one where the interior is set up like a train or the one where there is a huge mystery cave in there. By far the most interesting sounding however was Cos Cha.

So I broke my vow and gave Cos Cha a visit. This café offers a few unique products, the most interesting of all is the “Heaven or Hell Jan Ken Mixed Juice”. I ordered this and after a long wait the maid came with a mixer and a rather an interesting tray.

One side contained the heaven part of the arrangement. Melon soda, blueberry jam, caramel and chocolate spread.

The other was the hell side. Wasabi, raw egg and fried oysters.

Then a game commenced, the maid and I played Jan Ken 4 times, if I won I got to choose what to add in the mixer but if I lost the maid chose. In the end I lost 3 times out of 4 so I ended up with a mix of melon soda, blueberry jam, wasabi and fried oysters.

After it was mixed the next challenge was to down it in one.

This proved to be difficult. I was doing fine until I ran into the fried oyster resting at the bottom of the cup. I nearly gagged.

Because I failed to finish the concoction in one go my punishment was to be slapped in the face.

Hard.

Twice.

I can safely say that this was an unique experience and I had quite a laugh doing it despite the horrible taste in my mouth and the big red mark left on my face. Perhaps I will go to another maid café some time but I have had just about enough odd I can take for a good long while.