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Maid Cafes Are More Affordable

During the semester, I analyzed data to answer my question, “How are maid cafes are associated with the decline of families/ fertility rates in Japan?”, has led me to believe that the potential answer to my question is that maid cafe visits are more affordable than being in an intimate relationship and starting a family. Maid cafes have replaced dating, meaning that single people pay over $100 an hour for a courteous maid (female) or butler (male) to serve drinks and start conversations with customers. This makes sense because men in Japan no longer have stable jobs. Therefore, men are unable to support their families. Also, this makes sense because women are more career driven than having a desire to be in a relationship or to start their own families. This is important because young men and women are afraid to live and be alone, but they are very self conscious about it. Young men and women are willing to pay $2,500 for a virtual spouse instead of being in a traditional marriage, because they feel that getting married is very troublesome. This data reveals that men and women feel that pleasure is essential to them even though they can’t afford to invest time and money in a genuine relationship. These reasonings explain why Japan’s fertility rate as of 2017 is ranked 223 out of 226 countries.

In my opinion, Japan should change their public policy and social action in order to make housing cheaper. Citizens in Japan should get married by the age of 25 and each married couple ranging from the ages 25 and 35 must have at least 2 children.

Sources:

Cuddling, robots and holograms are replacing sex in Japan

Why have young people in Japan stopped having sex?

Maid Cafés: The Affect of Fictional Characters in Akihabara, Japan

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Our First Maid Cafe

Since I was not able to attend a maid cafe in San Francisco, I decided to watch a video of a maid cafe in order to get the virtual experience of what it was really like.

Exterior of the maid cafe building.

Couple interacting with the maid.

Specialized sweets and savories with cute Gudetama faces in honor of Gudetama month.

The YouTube video, “Our First Maid Cafe”, depicts a married couple, Simon and Martina, entering a maid cafe in Japan for the first time. The name of the maid cafe is @home Maid Cafe located in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan. The original release date of the video on youtube was February 3, 2017.

There were a lot of cute waitresses dressed up as maids, who serve food, socialize, and engage with the customers.

The cafe is a 5 story building located in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan.

There was a Gudetama month event at the cafe which meant that all the special sweets and savories in the menu had a Gudetama egg face.

Surprising aspects of the maid cafe

The bell to ring to get the maid to come and take your order.

Maid performing for customers.

Beverage and meal with cute animals drawn over.

Maid and Simon swirling wands to make soup taste magical.

Simon and Maid Polaroid picture.

From watching this video I have learned that married men are not as excited as their wife when going to a maid cafe. Simon was not excited at first because he was a bit overwhelmed. But on the other hand, Martina was excited the entire time being at the cafe.

The maid cafe overall had so many phenomenal aspects that were beyond my expectations. I was very surprised when I saw the customer ringing the bell in order to get the maid to take their order, the cute maids performing on stage to entertain the customers, the maids decorating the food and drinks with cute animal faces, the customer being allowed to take a polaroid picture with the one of the maids, and the maids interacting with the customer.  When both the maid and Simon were swirling the wands to make the soup taste magical, Simon started to have a great time at the maid cafe just as much of a great time Martina was having. Watching this video was an overall positive virtual experience for me because I always wondered what a maid cafe was really like and hope to go to a real maid cafe in Japan one day.

Top Left

Top Right

Bottom Left

Bottom Right 

The compilation of these photos is very significant to me because it shows Simon, a married man, coming to the maid cafe from feeling overwhelmed at the beginning to being more excited towards the end than anybody else. The picture in the top left shows Simon’s not so excited look when he first enter the maid cafe with his wife Martina. Then the next picture on the top right is when Simon finally felt the magical touch after twirling wands towards with the maid. The picture on the bottom left depicts Simon and Martina engaging on a chant with the maid before eating their food. The final picture on the bottom right depicts Simon and the maid posing for the polaroid camera to take their picture. It is very interesting how a maid cafe can brighten a person’s mood by a lot. If I ever have a bad day, I know it can be better by visiting a maid cafe and interact with the cute and friendly maids.

This video gives me a better understanding of the demographic of people of different marital statuses going to a maid cafe, because my research question, “How are maid cafes are associated with the decline of families/ fertility rates in Japan?”, makes me wonder why a married couple entered a maid cafe. I honestly though the married couple would be mutually excited to go to the maid cafe at first, but the wife was more excited than the husband. The fact that this husband is less interested expands my understanding of the topic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzLK_YRD3w8

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My Trip to JPOP Summit 2017

On Saturday, September 9, 2017, from 11:00 A.M. to 1:00 PM, our first year seminar class took a field trip to J-Pop Summit located on Fort Mason, in the Marina District of San Francisco. I brought my friends outside of the class to accompany me for the field trip.

The exterior of the entrance to the event.

The interior of the entrance to the event.

Me with my friends at the J-Pop Summit entrance.

I met cute cosplay girls at the event!

The people I have encountered there were a lot of cute girls in cosplay. The cosplays were ranged from all kinds of anime to traditional kimonos and samurai warriors.

The event was located at Fort Mason in the Marina District of San Francisco.

There were famous Japanese music groups at the event. I saw the famous Japanese rock/ heavy metal band known as Band-Maid. I even a JPop group known as Babyraids Japan.

I went to the only panel at the festival where I saw Babyraids Japan perform on the big stage. After Babyraids Japan performed, Band-Maid had a Q and A panel going on. And one lucky winner correctly answered a trivia question and got the privilege to take a group picture with the entire band along with receiving their merchandise.

I am surprised that Japanese pop is not as big as Korean Pop. I hear people talking about going to K-Pop conventions all the time but never hear about J-Pop conventions. I feel that J-Pop should have as much recognition as K-Pop is getting.

This field trip overall has inspired me to look for a research topic on the sociological aspects of Japan.

Interesting Cultural Aspects

Band-Maid

Babyraids Japan

Curry Bread

Vocaloid 4

Japanese Literature

Girl and Dragon

Anime Merchandise 

Dating Simulation

Hatsune Miku

I expected to see Japanese music artists, cute girls in cosplays, and authentic Japanese food. My expectations have been met. I was really excited the moment I saw Band-Maid on stage because, I have listened to a their music on Youtube this past summer. I was super excited to see cosplays because I go to a lot of anime conventions all over California and I love seeing so many varieties. This all felt like a dream but it was reality. I was surprised that I did not see any maid cosplays because I always see maid cosplays whenever I go to a Japanese cultural event. I was surprised when the Japanese food truck had sushi burritos in stock. I was extremely surprised because I never knew that any cultural fusion like Japanese / Mexican has ever existed. I was honestly expecting sushi rolls  in my stomach rather than a sushi burrito. This overall was a positive experience for me because I really love going to Japanese cultural events.

This photo is significant to me because I took a selfie and Band-Maid happens to be in the background. The security did not allow me to take any photography of the band, but the rebel everyone knows about did it anyways and did not get caught.

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“How are maid cafes are associated with the decline of families/ fertility rates in Japan?”

In my research topic on maid cafes, the question I am currently thinking about, “How are maid cafes are associated with the decline of families/ fertility rates in Japan?” urges me to find the answer.

The qualitative data that I have found, stated that anime inspired industries regarding maid cafes have replaced dating, meaning that people who are single pay over $100 an hour for a courteous maid (female) or butler (male) who serves drinks and starts conversations with customers. The frequent customers, “regulars”, are males ranging from late teens to early forties who either live independently or are still dependent on their families, visit the maid cafes multiple times a week or day. Single men and women pay $2,500 for a virtual spouse instead of being in a traditional marriage. Young people in Japan think that getting married is very troublesome. Men do not have steady lifetime jobs anymore. House prices are on the rise, leading to married couples not being able to afford a house. On the other hand, Japanese women are now more ambitious and career driven. The women cannot manage their career and marriage at the same time, which is the reason why Japanese men and women chose to stay single. Instead they look for something easy, anime inspired industries, such as maid cafes, hostess clubs, and anime pornography, which can give them the same gratification as being in a sexual relationship.

I consider online sources to be reliable because it deeply explores the reasons to why maid cafes or any other industries inspired by anime are an association with declining marriages. Both The Guardian and New York Post are reputable and credible closed sources for information. They have a long history of publishing news articles and if they had bad history regarding liability then they would not be as successful and existing as of right now

The data reveals that men and women feel that pleasure is essential to them even though they can’t afford to invest time and money in the relationship.

The reason to which I feel the information I have found is interesting is because I thought that love has no correlation with money. But in Japan, people need money in order to go out on dates, to start a family, and to raise their children because everything in Japan is unaffordable. I find this information to be very important to me because I feel that people who do not want to put in the time to be in any kind of relationship because of money concerns still pay for services in anime inspired industries anyways.

Sources listed below:

Cuddling, robots and holograms are replacing sex in Japan

Why have young people in Japan stopped having sex?

Maid Cafés: The Affect of Fictional Characters in Akihabara, Japan

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“How do maid cafes affect the decline of families/ fertility rates in Japan?”

“How do maid cafes affect the decline of families/ fertility rates in Japan?”

In my research topic on maid cafes, the question that I think to myself, “How do maid cafes affect the decline of families/ fertility rates in Japan?” urges me to find the answer.

I have found quantitative data, a fertility graph that displays the fertility rate in Japan. Japan was at its peak for its fertility rate from the past 30 years in 1986 when the fertility rate was roughly about 2.8. The graph shows that the fertility rate in japan had a great decline during the late 1990’s, when maid cafes were first established. Followed by the decline of Japan’s fertility rate which was at its lowest rate of about 1.2 in 2005, according to the total fertility rate graph. Regarding maid cafes, other anime inspired industries have decreased the rates of sex in Japan. Studies showed in the article that a survey conducted by the Japanese Family Planning Association in 2013 show that 45% of women from ages 16 to 24 stated that they were “not interested in or despised sexual contact.” And 25% of men from that age group feel the same about this. This explains why Japan’s fertility rate as of 2017 is ranked 223 out of 226 countries.

I consider the online sources that I have found quantitative data to be reliable because it goes in great depth the possible reasons to why maid cafes or any other industries inspired by anime has declined the fertility rate in Japan.

The data reveals that Japan’s fertility rate has declined and is ranked one of the bottom fertility rates of all the countries since the early existence of maid cafes and other anime inspired industries.

The reason to which I feel the information I have found is interesting is because I never knew before that the anime inspired industries is a possible reason to why a country can have one of the lowest fertility rates in the world. I find this information to be very important to me because I feel that people who develop a sexual fantasy with imaginary anime characters should be aware that they are not interacting with a real person but fictional characters. This fantasy “sex”  seems to be the leading reason to why the reproduction rate of their country is going down. I hope that one day this doesn’t result in “extinction” of the Japanese people.

Sources listed below:

Cuddling, robots and holograms are replacing sex in Japan

Low Fertility in Japan— No End in Sight

Country Comparison: Birth Rate

Japan // Fertility Rate (2015)

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Maid Cafes

Maid cafes, inspired by dating simulation games, have been around since the late 1990’s, in the anime district in Tokyo, Japan, known as Akihabara. The maids in the cafe are wearing sexually eroticized French maid’s costume, but are forbidden to have personal and physical interactions with the customers and are required to always interact “in character” with the customers during work.

The maid’s objective is to entertain the customers, give them a fun and memorable experience, and make sure they come again. The customers who always return are referred to as “regulars.” Maid cafes rely on regulars to keep the maid cafe businesses running. The regulars, who tend to be otaku range from late teenagers to early forties, are single men who either live independently or are still dependent on their families. Thinking about regulars brings up a question that deserves to have an answer, such as “How do maid cafes affect the decline of families/ fertility rates in Japan?”

On this blog, my research topic will be how the maid cafes have have discouraged men from having real life relationships and instead have virtual relationships and develop fetishes. Because of this, I am interested in how these kinds of relationships have affected the decline in the fertility rate and family structure of Japan.

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Can my students in FYS Beyond Pokemon find me?   When you find me, follow me AND post something on my tumblr!  Also look for your classmate and start following them.  So you can see what they are posting and learn from one another!