Well, some of them, anyway.

CNN reports on a butler cafe that caters to women with yet another specific niche. Rather than the butlers being Japanese men (or Japanese women dressed as men), the men of the Butlers Cafe are all westerners.

The owner of the cafe suggests that Japanese men are too embarassed for the grand romantic gestures that these particular customers want, and some of the customers say that they’re just exhausted from running their careers and handling their husbands, and want a little time to feel special.

And that special feeling is what the cafe specializes in. Each customer is referred to as “my princess” and is given a tiara for the duration of her stay. The men serve the customers on one bended knee, and will apparently on request lift a woman into a “princess hold” (you know the one I’m talking about) for a photo op…at least if you’re a journalist.

As for the men themselves, well, they aren’t the most attractive (or most intelligent) I’ve ever seen. One butler is relieved that he found work in Japan that wasn’t teaching English, while another compares their cafe to Hooters. (Yeah, I see the validity of that comparison, but I wouldn’t exactly call that a clever or elegant way to put it…) Oh, and another mentions that he hasn’t told anyone at home what he’s been doing in Japan. Guess they’ll find out!

And the guy in the above picture? Well, apparently customers are given a bell with which to summon their butler(s), and when they were demonstrating it, all three men responded with “yes, my princess.” But that guy gave a massive eye-roll while doing it. Not very princely, unless he was merely raising his eyes to the heavens to thank god for the existence of his customer…which I doubt.

Still, looks like a fun spot. Maybe I’ll drop in on my next visit and heckle ‘em!

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The Thinking Blog has a great article up about themed cafes that have sprung up since the invention of the maid cafe. There’s a vampire cafe, a ninja cafe, a glasses cafe (where all the staff…uh…wear glasses), a “lab coat” cafe (?! No shots of the inside of this one), a Christon Cafe (think your local Catholic church fused with a Starbucks), and my personal favorite, the “prison cafe.” (WTF, Japan?)

They also talk about butler cafes, particularly the well-known Swallowtail Cafe, featuring male butlers who cater to fujoshi clients. But if the theme is supposed to be “weird” cafe themes, I can’t believe they wouldn’t talk about cafes like B:Lily-Rose, a cafe whose theme is reverse traps– females dressing as male butlers (and also catering to fujoshi, if you were curious).

When I was in Japan I tried to find B:Lily-Rose, but I failed. NEXT TIME, GADGET.

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