Male Geishas for Japanese Women?

 In Japan, the traditional geisha haunts where men go to be pampered and served by gentle, docile women gave way in the 21st century to "maid cafes" where waitresses dressed as Western-style maids served the men. Now, the women have turned the tables. Earlier this year, the Swallowtail Cafe opened in Tokyo, designed to look like an English country house and catering exclusively to women customers. The waiters are dressed as butlers and after a month long training programme, provide a subservient service to the 20- to 30-somethings who make up the majority of the female customers. The place is fully booked for months in advance.

Emiko Sakamaki is the 25 year old management consultant who created the concept for the coffeehouse. She represents the new generation of female geeks or "otaku" who love comics, video games and animation. She is quoted in The Japan Times (24 April 2006) as saying, "Women have no one to serve them. In a virtual reality environment (at the butler cafe), I think many women want to spend some time when they can feel relaxed, drinking tea elegantly, and want to have a sense of superiority."

You can find the full Japan Times article here
but you will have to register with them first (free but a hassle).

Alternatively, you can read another report at http://www.wordpress.tokyotimes.org/?p=821

Personally, I feel uncomfortable with playing out roles of subservience and dominance, even in a playful way like the Swallowtail cafe. In a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, beautiful girls in cheong sam - the traditional figure-hugging Chinese dress with a high slit down the side - serve cocktails to the guests and to place the drinks on the low table in an elegant manner, they have to kneel before you. I found that disturbing and rather took the taste of my cocktail away. I am not sure that reversing the roles to be served by subservient men actually sets the balance straight for me. Perhaps simplistically, I prefer a world based on mutual and equal respect.

Have you been to Tokyo and been to the Swallowtail Cafe or any other cafes like it? Why not drop us a line about your experience?

What do you think of this concept? Could we do with a cafe like this in London? Or in the city where you live? Add a comment and tell us what you think.