June 18, 2022 5 min read

You've probably heard of a sex doll maid cafe or seen it somewhere while navigating the web in 2023. You may also be wondering what it means and what goes on there. A maid cafe is an establishment that serves as a sort of tourist attraction, and they are pretty popular in Japan, where they first began. However, it was another Asian country that became more prominent globally for maid cafes because of a unique feature; sex dolls. That country is Taiwan. They are the first country in the world to have a sex doll maid cafe known as MITICA.

The History and Concept of Maid Cafe

A maid cafe has been around for quite a while in Japan. However, a sex doll maid cafe is still in its infancy phase as it was only introduced into the world in mid-2021. In May last year, the city of Taichung started allowing visits from both locals and tourists. A maid cafe is a type of cosplay restaurant, and it was first established in 2001 in Tokyo, Japan. Similar to a traditional restaurant or dine-in, a maid cafe has waitresses. However, what set this establishment apart from a typical restaurant is that these waitresses wore maid costumes as their uniform, played the role of servants, and attended to their clientele as a servant would attend to a master or mistress in their private home.

Due to their unique tactic of drawing in more customers, maid cafes gained popularity. This growth in popularity birthed the expansion of this establishment to other countries such as South Korea, Brazil, the U.S.A, Australia, Thailand, Hungary, France, the Czech Republic, Mexico, the Netherlands, Canada, Chile, the Gambia, Peru, etc. Traditionally, maid cafes were affiliated with Akihabara, the town of its birth and a district in the city of Tokyo. Before the establishment of maid cafes, it was prominent for manga/anime stores and an extensive array and variety of electronic devices.

Akihabara was home to many themed cafes, particularly the maid cafe. Maid cafes evolved from an otaku hotspot into a tourist attraction because of the increased coverage by the media. More media attention and the new status of a tourist attraction resulted in more human traffic to these maid cafes, and during peak hours, wait time can take up to a couple of hours. The maid cafe also joined a new trend at the time in Japan that involved less popular kinds of intimacy.

After the crash of the Japanese economy in the '90s, ideas regarding intimacy tilted towards individualism. As a result of this trend, people who were without organic intimacy or relationships had to result in other kinds of intimacy to make up for the lack of intimacy. The maid cafe met that need and became a place for anime and manga enthusiasts to fulfill that need for intimacy. While the maid cafes weren't exactly into providing sexual services to patrons, certain intimacy-related perks came with it.

How does A Sex Doll Maid Cafe Differ From A Regular Maid Café?

As the name suggests, the sex doll maid cafe had something extra that set it apart from a typical maid cafe. A sex doll maid cafe displays life-like and ultra-realistic sex dolls posing as maids through their windows to the full view of passersby. While this seemed unconventional and lewd, it did prove effective as the sex doll maid cafe gained wide acceptance and became a sight for sore eyes to Taiwanese patrons.

Another factor contributing to the success and growing popularity of the sex doll maid cafe is the increasing popularity of sex dolls in the sex technology industry and society. The sex doll maid cafe was home to clients of every age category, and even kids were welcome. The beautiful doll maids were displayed mainly for the aesthetic appeal they brought to the establishment, not as objects of sexual desire.

Customers who came to dine in the sex doll maid cafe enjoyed freshly brewed beverages, Japanese dishes, and karaoke. A side benefit of being a customer is checking out the doll maids. The sex doll maid cafe displays a variety of ultra-realistic silicone sex dolls from well-known manufacturers such as TAYU, Sino Doll, Gynoid, EX Doll, Elsa babe, etc. These dolls vary in their body shape, size, and heads. Like the waitresses, they also have sexy and classy maid uniforms on them.

These dolls are displayed in the cafe in a variety of different positions. While several of them are linked to metal stands to keep them upright, others are sitting down or posed in an alternate position across the cafe. Customers are granted permission to touch these dolls, and if they happen to fancy any of them, they can buy that doll. Although they won't be given the doll displayed, they will process the purchase of an identical copy through custom order. The sex doll maid cafe is in an affiliate partnership with a sex doll retailer from which they get their supply of dolls for display and earn a commission for every doll sold.

There are also scenarios where a customer or patron can pay for a private reservation to intimately explore the doll(s) that catches their fancy. Despite the recent popularity of sex dolls in the consumer market, there are still subtle feelings of negativity towards sex dolls, which is why it's a pleasant surprise to the positive reception towards a sex doll maid cafe. This speaks volumes of the difference between western culture and Asian culture.

Sex dolls are perceived as innovative and cool in countries such as China, Japan, and Taiwan. These nationalities never cease to be amazed at how human-like these sex dolls appear and feel. Also, no one objects or questions the morality behind the production of these silicone or TPE sex dolls. After all, they realize that they are still synthetic and mere technological innovations, even though they are advanced ones.

MITICA sex doll maid cafe is a testament to the level of acceptance sex dolls have received in Asian society. Another example is the random appearance of Elsa Babe, a well-known sex doll brand, at last year's edition of the ChinaJoy Expo (A Cosplay, Gaming, and Digital Entertainment event).

Due to the wide acceptance of sex dolls and a sex doll maid cafe in Asia, there's nothing perceived as shameful or embarrassing about visiting or patronizing this establishment. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about being a regular visitor to establishments such as a hostess bar.

Final Thoughts

Sex doll maid cafes depend on frequent patrons for regular business. They provide an environment that's perceived as an escape from work and home. Employees in these establishments are usually selected on an appearance basis; they must be youthful, alluring, and innocent-looking. Also, most of these employees are females. Sometimes, the application or interview process usually involves a roleplay test to see if these maids can properly portray a given role. As a result, they are seldom seen out of character or uniform.

From what we've observed of the positive reception towards the first sex doll maid cafe in Taiwan, it's only a matter of time before much more spring up across the world.