A maid café is a type of cosplay restaurant found predominantly in Taiwan and Japan. In these cafés, waitresses dressed in maid costumes act as servants and treat customers as masters (and mistresses) as if they were in a private home, rather than as café patrons. Maid cafés are not just coffee shops with waitresses dressed as maids. The client is considered as the “master” (goshujinsama) of a palace, and the waitresses act as if they were his servants. The first permanent maid café, Cure Maid Café, was established in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan, in March 2001, but maid cafés are becoming increasingly popular. The increased competition drove the cafes to employ more diversified themes, gimmicks, and even unusual tactics to attract customers. Maid cafés have become popular entertainment spots thanks to frequent reports featuring them on television and in magazines. The culture of the maid café flourished in Akihabara, and it remains the center of this particular culture. Maid cafés are a major influence on Japanese pop culture as well as the cosplay restaurant industry.