Week Three: Jennifer and Ryan

For this week Ryan and I decided to visit the counterpart of the prim and demure maid cafe that was the Cure Maid Cafe and went to Maid Cafe maidreamin all for the sake of fulfilling Ryan's dream of going to this kind of cafe at least once. On our way to the cafe we ran across Maid Cafe Shangrila which was dedicated to adorable maids with a fuller sized figure, their mission is to promote positive body image which I can fully get behind, no pun intended.

Signboard outside Maid Cafe Shangrila.

Five of us had decided to go to the maidreamin, when we were ushered up the narrow steep stairs up to the second floor I was feeling a little apprehensive about this experience because I've watched YouTube video's of other people's experience with maid cafe. They were all always over the top which made it embarrassing to watch never mind experience firsthand. Imagine to my surprise I was totally alright with the entire experience. The maids were in cute little uniforms with their squeaky high pitched voices that was just the right kind of squeaky that didn't grate at my nerves.

Narrow steep scary stairs.

So sketch.

We all decided on the desert course which included a drink, desert, a little gift, and a picture taken with a cute maid (which would of course be the entire reason for going). Our drinks and deserts came out and they had us chant a little "spell" to make them delicious, which was probably one of the things I was most dreading. It was done in a more modest manner than what I had seen in videos so I was quite pleased.

Little rubber key chain that came with the desert combo.

So customized.

I'm very amused by the fact that the wet napkins are also customized.

After a little bit, a maid came by with animal ears and placed it on our heads, Ryan got an extremely full looking pair of bunny ears, which he looked absolutely fabulous in. I got a smaller pair of bunny ears, and one of our group Gaby got bear ears, We finished our cute animal parfaits and we all got our pictures taken individually with a maid and were all asked to make cute poses.

Ryan looks like he's not sure how he's supposed to feel about this.

Buncat hybrid, much cute.

Umm.

So much cute.

After this entire experience I couldn't help wonder why there are things such as maid cafes that exist, then I remembered how the maids addressed us all as masters, mistresses, and even princesses. Despite my initial thoughts before going, I was not all that embarrassed being addressed in such a way. I came to realize it was all in good fun, if I take the experience too seriously I'm completely missing the point of the maid cafe. Being in that cramped little cafe with other people also sharing the same experience, I came to understand we were in a created space occupied by cute girls in maid outfits who play a fun role to make a fun experience for people to get away from all the bustle and hustle of daily life. It's just one of the many different ways people keep themselves entertained after a hard day of work. For some curling up with a good book and escaping into the world printed on the paper, for others it's heading out for a night out in town with friends having good food and drinks. With so many different kinds of people in this world it's interesting to see how different people find different things to do to occupy their time.

It should be illegal for food to be this cute.

I think this bear is missing a nostril.

Maiddreamin is perhaps the antithesis of the disconnected experience found in cafes back in Canada. Unlike the monotonous experience of ordering a drink or snack from a disinterested shop keeper, waiting for you order to finish and finally departing from the store.
The experience at Maidreamin began outside of the door. A small Maid outfitted person was calling in customers from the streets. Opposed to Canada the people working at the cafe actually actively call in customers, spending many hours just advertising their respective shops on the streets. After being brought into the shop by the maid we were greeted with an incredibly small shop. After being seated in a very cramped table we were waited upon by maid with an unnaturally high voice. The maid spoke to us in English, probably based upon the general gaijin appearance of our group. Another difference from cafes in Canada is that you must pay a cover charge for just being seated in the cafe. The cover charge is 500 yen per person per hour.
 After explaining the cover charge the maid explained the menu options for the cafe. Within the realm of my understanding there were two main options for what you could order. option one was the food option which came with a drink, a gift, a meal, and an photo with the maid(also probably a desert but i forgot....)for some where in the mid 3000 yen range.
The other option which every one at our table went with was the desert option. The desert option was around 2200 yen and contained a drink, a desert, a gift and a photo with the maid. Each of the deserts was a parfait in the shape of some sort of animal with. The drinks were just the standard drink menu in most Japanese restaurants melon soda, cola etc... For the gift we were each given an maid outfit keychain. After placing our order we were told to perform some moe ritual. The reasons for the ritual are beyond me but I digress. Having completed the ritual  we waited for our deserts to arrive, nothing really special happened. Eventually the deserts arrived, They were good.....

Week Three: Sean and Hager

For our final blog post, Hager and I will be covering a cafe that we found near the outskirts Mukogaoka-yuen Station. The cafe was called Cafe Gusto and unlike the other eccentric cafes that we have covered in this blogpost, or very heavily themed cafe, it was extremely normal. However, what's normal in Japan would still then be different from the contemporary cafe that is seen around Calgary.

The cafe was a normal cafe where the waiters and waitresses did not dress up in any fancy clothes. They were in fact, just normal waiters you'd expect to see in a any normal restaurant. The cafe was also not themed in any specific way that caters to any individual's specific and or eccentric taste. It was a normal cafe you would expect in Japan - normal foods, a drink bar, and a very normal atmosphere. This normality is different from the normality that is seen and felt in Calgary cafes, in the sense where despite it being a cafe, it also functions as a restaurant, and has a higher quality service and food than that of the typical cafes like Quickly's or OCup in Chinatown Calgary. The food, although there are very cafe-like foods such as desserts and certain drinks, is also different from the typical cafe foods in general, because it has foods meant to be served in the restaurants such as hamburger steaks and so on. In addition, the ambience was something that of a cafe - its lighting and music gave it a very nice feel, which is not translated into Calgary's cafes in general.

The food was reasonably priced, they even had glasses of wine for only 99 yen.

Overall, for what is known to be a normal cafe in Japan is set to be a higher class than those in Calgary. The atmosphere and foods served seem to give off the vibe of that of a higher-classed society. In addition to this, Japan's normal cafes adopted a drink bar, which allows guests to have an all-you-can-drink scheme. This scheme in itself is already better than that of Calgary cafes, which served drinks at about $5 each. The Calgary cafes are generally more expensive and more backward than those compared to both Japan's normal and themed cafes.

Week Two: Sean and Jennifer

For our duo of the group, Jennifer and I decided to pay a visit to Maid Cure located in Akihabara. Not only is the cafe famous for giving off a stereotypical quiet, peaceful, and prim-and-proper vibe, it is also the work place of a character of the famous Love Live anime series that has taken quite  abit of the world by storm. As a result of having some affiliation to the Love Live series, the cafe has bits and pieces of Love Live decorations in the front of the cafe near the cashier.

Apart from the small hint of influence by the popular idol anime, Maid Cure is also different from the normal cafes you find in Calgary, namely Quickly's and OCup, in the sense where not only the maids, but also the guests are expected, and do, give off a high-class vibe, which almost makes it feel like this is a cafe for the high class - and what more to contribute to this feeling when they serve tea in the white conventional teapots, with a fairly normal (but overpriced) menu. The price of the items were very much standard to any other cafes in Japan in general, although these drinks and foods are on average slightly more overpriced than those in Calgary. However, the effort that was put into the preparation of these foods were definitely on a higher ground that those of Calgary's aforementioned cafes. Furthermore, although this is probably to protect the privacy of both guests and the maids, we were not allowed to take (many) pictures without the maids first checking the contents of the picture to deem if they were appropriate, but we did get a few to post in today's post.

Did I mention the cafe was promoting a quiet, peaceful, and prim-and-proper vibe? Well we were the only table whose voices can actually be heard by others - and we were whispering too! The cafe promotes a very quiet environment that actually allows people to work in. We noticed a few people with their mini laptops typing away at something - what, we didn't know, but we could easily infer it was for some sort of work.

Maid Cure, unlike the other cafes that surround and sprung up in Akihabara is definitely different because it has a very quiet and relaxing atmosphere, whereas the others in general are filled with noises, and the invasion of others' privacy (including one's own voice) isn't frowned upon.

The cafe is tucked away on the sixth floor of a building with shops primarily selling anime goods. We actually almost walked right past the cafe if it weren't for our eagle eyed friend who pointed it out. The first floor had an impressive amount of Gashapon machines which made it near impossible to walk away without giving it a try.

Neko Atsume gashapon from the first floor.

If you can make it through the first 5 floors without spending all your money you are rewarded with being greeted politely by a waitress in a floor-length Victorian style maid outfit. The interior of the cafe gives off a homely, rustic atmosphere with trellis-like dividers inter-woven with vines set between tables for customer's privacy. All the furniture is made from wood, and piano music is played in the background to add to the atmosphere.

Narrow stairway up to the cafe.

Front entrance of the cafe, and yes I did ask for permission despite what the sign says.

After being seated and ordering our food. I noticed everything from the napkins to the tea cups, saucers, plates, spoons, forks, knives all had Cure Maid Cafe meticulously engraved onto them. I ordered waffles and tea, and the maid carefully set out our food and poured our tea for us. Jaylene's food was decorated with a rabbit in chocolate syrup. After being taken care of in such a refined and cared for manner it's not hard to see why Cure Maid Cafe is still around since it's creation. And why it can be proudly called the first maid cafe erected in Akihabara. I feel that you can fulfill your want to be cared for but not be smothered in attention at this cafe and that is why these places are created, to momentarily be in a space where the outside world and troubles can be forgotten for a short while.

You can't see it in this image unfortunately but all the silverware is engraved with the words Cure Maid Cafe like the sign at the front entrance.

Jaylene's dish with the rabbit decoration.

Week Two: Ryan and Hager

This week's cafe was character themed. Specifically, pompompurin, an incredibly cute Sanrio character. As the name suggests, he is a pudding themed dog.

The cafe is located in the middle of the infamous Takeshita street in Harajuku. Navigating through the crowds of people on the street was a bit of an ordeal, but when we reached the cafe we were greeted with one of the cutest cafe exteriors around. 

Before even stepping inside it felt like we'd been transported into an incredibly cute fantasy world. We had to wait for a few minutes because there was a large group of us, but we were seated pretty quickly.

Near the front there was a small display full of pompompurin merchandise available for purchase. Unfortunately, it was pretty expensive, so no one walked away with any cute accessories in our group.

There was a big, extremely cute pompompurin statue in the centre of the cafe. It was approximately five feet tall.

Some character cafes charge you just for your seat- thankfully this was not one of those cafes. We're all a group of poor students so it was a huge relief for everyone.

We sat down and were given water before placing our orders. It took a little while for our food to come in, so in the meanwhile we looked around and admired the decor. Once again, everything was incredibly cute.

The food was on the expensive side. The cheapest menu option was pudding which was 500 yen. Most people opted for parfaits and pancakes, which were in the 700-800 yen range.

Once the food arrived, only one word came to mind: kawaii! The presentation was amazing, and in fact, made it difficult to take the first bite.

As for taste it was... average. The pudding tasted like any other pudding. The pancakes tasted like regular pancakes, etc. The real magic is only in appearance, because where else can you really go out to eat pompompurin themed food.

All and all, it was a fun experience, but if someone doesn't enjoy pompompurin, or incredibly cute characters, then I wouldn't recommend this cafe. The food isn't really anything special, and it was pricey for the portions. It's the type of cafe you go to once in your life, enjoy the experience for a few hours, then promptly mourn how much you spent on tiny pancakes.

In conclusion, unless you're a diehard all-things-cute or pompompurin fan, just admiring the pictures people take of the cafe is probably enough.

Week One: Jennifer and Hager

The first week in Japan has just flown by. Luckily though, we've had time to pursue an animal café.

On Sunday, we visited Cat Café Calico, located in Shinjuku. It cost 1000 yen for an hour of playtime with the cats. Upon entering, the staff directed us to a room where we were to change out of our shoes into slippers provided. We stored our shoes in a locker and washed our hands thoroughly with the soap and sanitizer provided. We then stepped into the second floor of the café, where many of the cats were hanging out.

There were a few rules, namely not to bother any sleeping cats. The shop also warned us about a few cats that were known to scratch, so we took care not to push those cats into unwanted contact.

On the first floor of the cafe, drinks and cat snacks could be bought for a small fee.

Many of the cats were napping, but many more were walking around and actively looking for treats and/or attention.

Some cats allowed people to pet them instantly, while others took a few tries before they warmed up to anyone. No one actually bought any cat treats, but other patrons who did have them seemed to be extremely popular with the cats.

The only downside to the café really had nothing to do with the cafe itself, but the crowd. Since so many people were vying for some feline attention, it took time to find cats who wanted attention that weren't already getting some.

All in all, it was a very interesting and relaxing experience. As animal lovers, we enjoyed being surrounded by so many different adorable kitties. The price was fair for the time spent, and every cat seemed to be very well taken care of. It's clear why animal cafés are such a huge phenomenon in Japan. There's really no other experience quite like it.

Week One: Love Live Cafe

For our part of this research project we went to the Love Live cafe in Akihabara. The first major roadblock in our journey occurred when we found ourselves in the wrong building. The love live cafe was on the seventh floor of the Sega building in Akihabara.

 Akihabara contains at least 3 (That we have seen). Upon reaching the sixth floor of the first Sega building we found that there was no seventh floor in the building.finding ourselves pressed for time we ran to the next Sega building. Alas once again we found ourselves in a river with no raft to latch onto. Again we embarked on a journey in search of  the next Sega building. After running up six sets of stairs we found a gate baring our way to the seventh flight. Luckily there existed a certain magical elevator that could take us to the promised land. Sadly the elevator could not hold all eight of us so we went up in two groups. Upon arrival on the floor we were greeted with the beautiful ballads from the anime. Showing our reservation to the shop attendant we were allowed through the door to the cafe.

 Inside we found life sized cutouts of the characters from the anime. the walls of the cafe was covered in pictures of the characters in various states of being.

 After finishing looking around the venue we found seats at our tables and began our perusal of the menu.

Having just ate at the all you an eat restaurant in Shinjuku the idea of buying overpriced food was thrown out the window in favor of buying just drinks. Each drink was themed after a character. After much thought I have concluded that the flavor is ,sometimes based on the color of the characters hair, and sometimes it is not. Having said that we both ordered the Nico drink. On the menu the was labelled as being Sakura flavored, much to my sadness it was cherry flavored. Although not the flavor I had wished for I still found enjoyed the taste of the 600￥ drink. For buying the drink we were each given a random character coaster. getting both the characters that we wanted we were contented. After paying the bill and leaving the cafe area we were faced with the merchandise shop.

Not having a desire for any of the goods offered I was free from the compelling force released by the merchandise, Sean however, bought a shirt.

This cafe is different from cafes in Calgary because it sells you limited time only merchandise such as the shirt. The waitresses also wore aprons with characters from the series, which is different from normal cafes because of the way they dress, albeit they did not wear any cosplay. In addition, there are other collectibles that you can get from the cafe such as character themed certain coasters. The Love Live cafe is also a special themed cafe that represents a certain series, that is basically different from what you would expect from a stereotypical cafe in North America.

Self Introduction: Hager Yousif ハガー・ユーシフ

Hello!

My name is Hager, and I'm super excited to be a part of the Senshu 2016 group! I can't wait to get to know all of you guys. My group of four is going to be exploring the cafés for our culture topic. I can't wait to visit various cafés and see what they have to offer.

On a more personal note, I'm currently a fourth year student studying linguistics and psychology. Like many of you, I've always enjoyed anime, and that's what inspired me to want to learn more about Japanese language and culture. I'm really glad I did decide to try out Japanese 205 in my first year, because learning Japanese has been an amazing (although very difficult) journey.

Other hobbies of mine include things like drawing, writing, and making handicrafts. I've heard crafts are pretty popular in Japan, so I'll probably buy a few kits to try my hand at. Maybe a few of those candy food sets too, the ones like poppin' cooking where you can make little gummy pizzas.

This is my first time ever going to Japan. I am so looking forward to exploring around Tokyo, meeting our convo partners, and draining my savings account on おみやげ for everyone back in Calgary. I'm especially looking forward to visiting areas like Ikebukuro, Akihabara, and Asakusa. The sanja festival looks like it'll be a blast as well!

I'm going to stop myself here, or else I'll go on forever about everything I'm excited for. Once again, I can't wait to get to know everyone better, as well as improve my Japanese.

Thanks for reading!

This is my bunny, Cocoa, I'm going to miss him so much!

Self Introduction: Ryan Holoweckyj ライアンホーローウェきー

Hey everybody!

My name is Ryan Holoweckyj, and I am a member attending the 2016 Senshu program. Our group of four will be looking into Japans culture of cafés. Japans cafés are very different compared to those in Canada often having specific themes or containing animals of different types. I hope that through experiencing these different types of cafés, and speaking to those who work in them I can gain insights into a bit of japans culture.

A little about myself, I am a second year computer science major at the University of Calgary and am currently pursuing a minor in Japanese.  My interest in Japan is born from my love of Japanese video games. Specifically, when I was young, my friend lent the Playstation 2 Japanese RPG Disgaea. From that point on my interest in Japanese culture began to grow. I started watching anime, reading translated novels, and listening to Japanese music. In summer of my first year of university I began learning the Japanese language. Learning the language increased my appreciation for Japanese culture and, as a result, I decided to join this program.

I have never been to Japan and as such am very excited to be participating in this program. I look forward to experiencing many aspects of Japans culture, eating all the food, and improving my Japanese language ability.

Thanks for reading!

Ryan Holoweckyj

Self Introduction: Jennifer Hong ジェニファ－・ホン

Hi all!

My name is Jennifer Hong, feel free to call me Jenn if you'd like. It's a pleasure to be in this Senshu Program with all of you, I'm looking forward to getting to know each and everyone of you (my goal is to find out ALL of your dirty little secrets fu fu fu).

As you may or may not remember from our presentations, I am a second year undergraduate student majoring in East Asian Language Studies with a focus on Japanese. I'm also perhaps the oldest member of our Senshu group, (ahem) but that doesn't mean I'll be the most reliable or mature of the group. So what I'm really trying to say is please come save me if I get lost!!

A little blurb about my background, I am 100% born and raised Canadian, but I'm ethnically Chinese. I was actually born in Guelph, Ontario, home of the Sleeman Brewery for those of you who drink. Other than that and the University of Guelph, the city doesn't have much going on for itself, except the locals are hilariously dubbed Guelphites. I moved to Calgary with my family back in 2003 and have been here since. My family consists of my mom, dad, two younger sisters, a cat, a turtle and myself.

Many of you may be tired of hearing this but I grew up watching anime so naturally my interests in Japanese and Japanese culture stemmed from that. As a university student I now no longer have as much time to watch anime and even when I do I find myself doing other things to occupy my spare time, spending time with friends, eating delicious food, listening to music(SPYAIR, FLOW, and Goose House to name a few of my favourite bands), watching Japanese dramas(dinner, Wakakozake, and 35 Sai no Koukousei), and playing mobile games though still anime-inspired (Love Live, Idolish7 and Kingdom Hearts Unchainedχ).

Even so I'm grateful to anime for opening the door to learning a new language and culture. I'm sure it doesn't need to be said why I chose to take up the Senshu program, as many of  you are going for the same reasons or for similar reasons.

I am still keeping tabs on current anime so for you anime enthusiasts please come strike up a conversation with me! I have been keeping up with Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable, KIZNAIVER, Bungo Stray Dogs, Sakamoto desu ga, Tanaka-kun is Always Listless, and SUPER LOVERS.

Pssst, also if anyone finds any cute cat/turtle merchandise while we're in Japan please let me know!

Look forward to our remaining two group member's self introductions!

Jennifer Hong

My cat getting in the way of my first blog entry, ever.

Self Introduction: Sean Ko ション コー

Hello everyone!

My name is Sean Ko, and I am a member of the group of students from the University of Calgary that will be attending the Senshu Program in Spring 2016!
I am part of the group that will be tackling the the topic of cafés in Japan! As was covered in the introduction post, cafés in Japan come in a myriad of different themes, and  I am looking forward to visiting these cafés as my budget will allow and experience the contemporary culture pertaining to Japanese cafés!

I am a third year student at the University of Calgary in the midst of completing my Bachelor of Arts, English Major. I am also currently undergoing and partaking my Minor in Japanese at this institution. My aim is the become an English teacher and teach in Japan, hence my choices for the Major and Minor program.

I think this theme of cafés will most definitely boost my understanding of a part of the contemporary culture of Japan, and am looking forward to this experience! My Japanese is not the best, but I hope to communicate with the people who work at these cafés to gain a better understanding of their responsibilities and culture!

Thank you all for reading, and look forward to more posts by my other group members and I!

Sean Ko