Samurai Maid Cafe A New Craze in Tokyo

It's service with a sword at the newest cafe in Tokyo's Akihabara district, where the waitresses have taken Japan's maid cafe culture and added in some samurai flair.

The cafe, called "Mononopu," has taken the maid cafe look and armored up with added attachments such as samurai style shoulder armor and their own plastic swords.

Over the last few years, Japan's historical 15th century Warring States period has experienced a popularity boom around the country. Historical figures become icons and many games and movies riding the wave to historical profits.

Mononopu's owner explains that in addition to his personal interest in history, he did try to capitalize on the historical boom.

[Tatsuya Nagareya, Owner, Mononopu]:
"I had both heard about the current popularity of Japan's warring states period, and I personally liked history, so I decided to make a sort of historically based Cafe around that concept."

The biggest draw for customers to the cafe is the historic theme.

[Shouta Minami, Customer]:
"I'm majoring in history in my studies, so I was really looking forward to coming here.”

The cafe holds semi-regular history quiz events for customers, although there is no test required to get a job there. Waitresses working there enjoy the experience, too.

[Aiso Kasaka, Waitress]:
"As there are customers who really know a lot about history, it's quite fun in that I get to learn from listening to them."

The cafe owner says that he believes the people's interest in history won't fade away as the latest craze, and will instead stick around to keep Mononopu itself from fading into the history books.