Deep in Akihabara

Thank you for those recognizing the reference to アキハバラ＠DEEP

In any case, Sunday started slowly as I awake from a proper sleep in around 10am. I packed my huge suitcase and we dragged it to the hotel in Ochanomizu JR station to be dropped off. By the time we were out of there, it was almost noon and we were headed for Akiba, just a station away. As soon as we got out of the JR station, I was ocne again overwhelmed by the rattling sound of the various tills, neons, voices calling out to patrons. Even in daylight, the neons and blinking signs were blinding and giving me silent epileptic seizures in the privacy of my eyballs.
After composing myself, I followed E-san through throngs of men looking for some high tech gadgets, or just electrical appliances. Looking up, I saw the flagship store of Yodabashi.

 

I was not looking for any more gadget to by so we walked toward the minor streets. As soon as we got onto the pedestrian path outside the station though, E-san noticed a maid waitress handing out flyers and fishing out for customers. So we followed her to her establishment, on a second floor of an unidentified building. It was only when I walked toward the cafe that I noticed more maid waitresses like her calling out to customers in the streets. They we very easy to spot since the streets were filled with 99% men.

 We unfortunately could not take phhotos or film inside the cafe, but it was a very strange atmosphere: the waitresses, all dressed as french maids, welcomed us as "welcome back lady mistresses" (oakaeri ojou-sama), while welcoming men guests as "masters" (go-shuujin-sama). Inside, the menu was very simple and non-existant since people would not really come to the place to eat but to enjoy the feeling of being served by cutely dressed maids, and feel safe.

I was pretty curious about the other single men pretending to read a book while glancing at the waitresses and the anime playing on 2 walls. They didn't order anything for 20min, but a maid would come frequently to attend to their whispering. I had an ichigo cake) strawberry cake) and a drink, and one maid from Italy actually served us. She is studying Japanese in Tokyo and getting cultural experience and salary from this part-time job. She had us repeat a silly cute charm on the food before we ate it, as the house customs required. The most amazing sight was to see a group of macho guys on the next table, shyly and embarrassingly perform the same charm when their order came...BWAHAHAHAH

We didn't stay too long because after all we were after real food as well, so we looked for a good place to crash and get some food. The area apparently lacked some food joints so they built a huge food mall just in front of the JR station. But we were after more mundane and basic food. Ramen is the local fare at Akihabara, and we found one in  hidden street: customers would first make their choice at a machine and pay, then give the ticket to the waiter to get the food. We sat at the bar outside, with a view on the ramen chef. I had miso tsukemen for 600Yen and E-san had ramen for the same price.

I recommend tsukemen instead of ramen if you re not to dexterous with chopsticks, as you only dip the noodles you eat instead of having noodle soaking in broth for so long and ending up having soggy noodles because you are too slow to eat with chopsticks.

After that we split up as E-san had some homework. I needed to get back to the hotel and check in, as well as change because I was having a wardrobe malfunctioning. That evening I merely looked for orange juice for vitamins and grabbed food at 711.