「Welcome， Master，」 says the maid as she bows deeply， hands clasped in front of a starched pinafore worn over a pink dress.
This maid serves not aristocrats but a string of pop-culture-mad customers at a 「Maid Cafe」 in Tokyo's Akihabara district， long known as a Mecca for electronics buffs but now also the center of the capital's 「nerd culture.」
「When they address you as 'Master'， the feeling you get is like a high，」 says Koji Abei， a 20-year-old student having coffee with a friend at the Royal Milk Cafe.
「I've never felt that way before.」
Maid cafes dot Akihabara， which has become a second home for Tokyo's 「otaku」 —— roughly translated as 「geeks.」 They're known for their devotion to comics and computer games and can easily be identified by their standard outfit of track suit， knapsack and spectacles.
In the cafes， girls dressed in frilly frocks inspired by comic-book heroines wait hand and foot on customers， mostly male， who might have once been obsessed with naughty schoolgirls and nurses.
At one cafe， maids get down on their knees to stir the cream and sugar into the customer's coffee.
At Royal Milk， diners can follow up a meal with a range of grooming services， including ear cleanings.
Maids at some of the more attentive shops even offer to spoon-feed customers at their table.
Maid cafes have mushroomed since they first emerged about four years ago， evolving from cafes where waiting staff emulated characters from a popular series of role-playing video games， often dressed in schoolgirl-inspired uniforms.
Akihabara now boasts around 30 maid cafes that cater not just to male geeks but also to couples， tourists and the merely curious.
「大人，歡迎光臨」，身著粉紅服裝的女服務員一邊說著一邊向來客深鞠躬，同時，把雙手合放在古板的圍裙上。
這名女服務員接待的並非貴族，而是一群對流行文化著迷的「女僕咖啡屋」顧客。這些咖啡屋位於東京秋葉原地區，長期以來被認為是電器發燒友的「聖地」，現在又是日本首都的「荒誕文化」中心。
「當他們稱呼你'大人'時，你會感到自己高高在上，」20歲的小路·阿部井這樣說道。他和朋友正在「皇家牛奶咖啡屋」喝咖啡。
「以前，我從沒有過這種感覺」。
「女僕咖啡屋」散布於秋葉原一帶，成為東京「御宅族（otaku）」的第二家園，otaku大致可以翻譯成「偏執狂」。「御宅族」以迷戀漫畫和電子遊戲而著稱，他們的標準行頭是競賽服、旅行背包和墨鏡，所以極易辨認。
這些咖啡屋受漫畫人物的啟發，讓女孩子們穿上蕾絲邊的裙裝工作服，並要求她們全心為顧客提供服務。來咖啡屋的大多是男性，他們可能曾經迷戀過調皮的女生或護士。
有家咖啡屋提供跪式服務，女服務員雙膝跪下把牛奶和方糖攪拌加入顧客的咖啡裡。
在「皇家牛奶咖啡屋」，顧客可以用餐，並享受儀容服務，如清除耳垢。
還有一些咖啡屋的服務更周到，服務員甚至餵顧客進餐。
「女僕咖啡屋」四年前現身日本，之後如春筍般迅速崛起。出現之初，服務員仿效電子遊戲上人們喜歡的一系列人物形象，其穿戴很像女孩子的校服。
秋葉原地區現在大約有30個「女僕咖啡」屋，他們不僅為這群男性「御宅族」提供服務，還招待情侶、遊客和出於好奇而來的顧客。