{"id":22765,"date":"2023-05-22T08:22:32","date_gmt":"2023-05-22T00:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/?p=22765"},"modified":"2024-04-17T15:51:08","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T07:51:08","slug":"culture-of-maid-cafes-in-hong-kong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/2023\/05\/culture-of-maid-cafes-in-hong-kong\/","title":{"rendered":"Culture of Maid Caf\u00e9s in Hong Kong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Maid cafes are not just gathering spots for otaku, but also places where people seek comfort and relaxation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Lorraine Chiang<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeking relaxation, Tom Chan Wai-lun visits maid caf\u00e9s once a week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am not close with waitresses in maid caf\u00e9s. But talking to them is more relaxing than speaking to my colleagues because we have no clash of interests. My friends are too busy to chat with me,\u201d Chan says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharing common interests, Chan chats about Japanese anime with waitresses, making maid caf\u00e9s a rendezvous for otaku or people interested in Japanese manga and anime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chan started an Instagram page in March 2022 with 1,116 followers, sharing his dining experience at different maid cafes and his interviews with waitresses at maid caf\u00e9s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany people mistakenly consider maid caf\u00e9s as part of the sex industry. That is a huge misconception. In fact, there are many rules at maid cafes. Physical touch is forbidden for example,\u201d Chan says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of waitresses are still in secondary school and they just want to gain work experience. They are hard-working,\u201d Chan adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Citing a diligent maid he knows as an example, he says, \u201cThe maid puts a lot of effort into making drinks for customers. Every time I go there, she tailor-makes drinks for me, and they always taste good. I can feel her dedication to providing good services.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe maids also ask you what you like and draw them on omelets with ketchup. I usually ask them to draw cats and dogs, and sometimes I ask for self-portraits,\u201d Chan says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Tailor-made omelet for Tom Chan Wai-lun from a maid cafe. (Photo courtesy of Chan Wai-lun Tom)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope others will find joy in maid caf\u00e9s like me. It makes me feel very happy when other customers tell me they go to maid caf\u00e9s after checking my page,\u201d Chan adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from bringing joy to customers, maid caf\u00e9s also help waitresses find happiness outside of their daily routines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working full-time as a clerk, Mana Kong Hei-ling enjoys dressing up and playing a different character once a week at Maid Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She runs a public Instagram account with about 1,200 followers, and many of them are her customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy customers learn about my updates from my social media account. They find that I have become more energetic after I changed my job. I feel touched,\u201d Kong says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is tiring to work two jobs. But I still want to continue to work at a maid caf\u00e9 because I can have fun while making money,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from her caring customers, Kong also finds support from her colleagues. \u201cThey praise me for being charming and energetic on stage. My colleagues also teach me to be myself and remind me not to care about how others think of me. I may not be as popular or pretty as others, but I have my fans who love me for who I am,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Kong dressing in a maid outfit. (Photo courtesy of Kong Hei-ling Mana)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Kong also shares positive vibes with her customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce a male customer wanted to dress up as a girl and asked me to teach him to do makeup. He used to cover his face in cosplay and ACG (animation, comics, and games) events, but now he has become more confident and shows his face more often,\u201d Kong says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Li Mei-ting, a lecturer of Cultural Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, attributes the rise of maid caf\u00e9s in Hong Kong to the emotional needs of ACG fans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOtakus have always been stigmatized as losers in Hong Kong and they are labeled as \u2018geeks\u2018. In the past, cosplay was not accepted in mainstream culture so maid caf\u00e9s are safe spaces for otaku to display their love for moe culture. They turn to maid caf\u00e9s to share their interests,\u201d Li says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moe is the youthful and innocent quality of teenage females, which elicits feelings of protectiveness and affection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Li points out that the sense of homecoming is also an important attraction of maid caf\u00e9s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen a customer enters a maid caf\u00e9, the maids and butlers say \u2018Welcome home, master\u2019. This family kinship answers the need for emotional bonding of these people,\u201d she adds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe family kinship is more than just being biologically related. Though the customers know that they pay for the kinship, they still appreciate that,\u201d Li says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edited by Phoebe Chu
Sub-edited by Karmen Yip<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maid cafes are not just gathering spots for otaku, but also places where people seek comfort and relaxation. By Lorraine Chiang Seeking relaxation, Tom Chan Wai-lun visits maid caf\u00e9s once a week.  \u201cI am not close with waitresses in maid caf\u00e9s. But talking to them is more relaxing than speaking to my colleagues because we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":22770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[836,2183],"tags":[2093],"class_list":["post-22765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-may-2023","tag-maidcafe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22765"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22774,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22765\/revisions\/22774"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}