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Girlfriend experience-escorts are also not that uncommon outside of Japan. Bars where one buys a good conversation along with the meal, cafés where the waiter

Girlfriend experience-escorts are also not that uncommon outside of Japan. Bars where one buys a good conversation along with the meal, cafés where the waiters roleplay as one's doting sibling, renting a parent, used underwear from vending machines, maid cafés, maid cafés where the maids are all cross-dressing males, cafés where the attractive male waiters make out with each other for the viewing pleasure of the customer base, cafés where the attractive female waiters wear no underwear, short skirts, and the floors are mirrored — well, that's the joie de vivre that has a big “only in Japan” sticker on it. The second place with distance is the U.S.A. that at least has cafés where the attractive female waiters wear skimpy outfits, cheerleaders, and bikini car wash — but the rest of the world that has nothing that comes close to this well-inspired madness.

michaelpb 6y ago
That's not true. Cafes that cater to lonely straight men or misogynistic businessmen exist worldwide. Just one example: All the different "café con piernas" cafes in Chile, which are very similar to Japanese maid cafes.
- Blikkentrekker 6y ago
  How is that similar to maid cafés, let alone cafés where the waiters act as if they be one's doting sibling? You seem to have reduced my rather wild and spectacular examples to something so mundane as: “Cafes that cater to lonely straight men or misogynistic businessmen exist”, especially when most of my examples have nothing to do with “straight men” or “misogynistic businessmen”.
  - michaelpb 6y ago
    I don't know if there exists a cafe with a "sibling theme", but café con piernas is pretty similar in the other respects. There are a variety of different establishments where clientele are served coffee and pastries by women in revealing outfits, ranging from traditional outfits in short-skirts, to much more revealing costumes (often with partial nudity). All I was saying is that businesses that follow the model of "cafe, but also sex work" are world-wide, not just Japan and the US.
glandium 6y ago
Note: for many of the "weird" things you list, there's _one_ place doing it, not several, like the use of plural may suggest (AFAIK).
- Blikkentrekker 6y ago
  Such as which example? I have knowledge of the existence of multiple in almost all of what I listed.
  - glandium 6y ago
    Used underwear vending machine, last I heard, there's only one. Yaoi cafe, AFAIK, there's only one. And I would be surprised if there's more than one cafe with the glass floor and no underwear.
    - Blikkentrekker 6y ago
      Well, you seem to be wrong about all three: https://livejapan.com/en/in-tokyo/in-pref-tokyo/in-ikebukuro/article-a0003600/ https://livejapan.com/en/in-tokyo/in-pref-tokyo/in-ikebukuro... This article reviews three different boy's love cafés, in close proximity to one another. I'm not sure how derive the conclusion that there is only one used underwear vending machine; a simple image search reveals many different models: https://www.techinasia.com/japan-used-panty-vending-machines-fact-fiction https://www.techinasia.com/japan-used-panty-vending-machines... This article concludes that the most extreme stories about one at every corner are an exaggeration, but one can definitely find them. As for the cafés without underwear: there is definitely more than one, though they've been on a decline. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-pan_kissa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-pan_kissa
      - glandium 6y ago
        > https://livejapan.com/en/in-tokyo/in-pref-tokyo/in-ikebukuro/article-a0003600/ https://livejapan.com/en/in-tokyo/in-pref-tokyo/in-ikebukuro... Of the 3, only the first one is overtly Yaoi. I don't know the second one, but it doesn't seem like one, and the Butler cafe is definitely not Yaoi. > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-pan_kissa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-pan_kissa After the boom in the 80s (30+ years ago), are there really any left, with the glass floor and everything?
el_dev_hell 6y ago
> but the rest of the world that has nothing that comes close to this well-inspired madness. I raise you the slightly hidden world of "tits on toast" from Australia. In regional cities/towns, you can go to certain local pubs early in the day (10AM - 12PM) and get a cheap breakfast served by topless waitresses. If the waitresses get enough tips, they allegedly remove everything. The breakfast is usually terrible (cold canned beans on toast with an egg).
- eplanit 6y ago
  In Fort Lauderdale, Florida (of course), there was a place named "R Donuts" with topless waitresses.[1] [1] https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/11/27/Topless-doughnut-shop-opens/3354501915600/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/11/27/Topless-doughnut-sho...
  - nickik 6y ago
    > Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Spends considerable time in a topless pancake restaurant if I remember correctly.
- BelenusMordred 6y ago
  > In regional cities/towns In certain areas yeah, but painting all the regions with that brush is strange. Most of the country couldn't handle anything of the sort and the place would be raided by the police in a day. Despite how many pretend play it up to be, Australia is an incredibly conservative country. The stuff you'll find in mining towns is far worse and basically the wild west. Barstaff will pour you out a beer using their bare asscheeks for a tip. Always wondered what the health authorities think of that.

michaelpb 6y ago

That's not true. Cafes that cater to lonely straight men or misogynistic businessmen exist worldwide. Just one example: All the different "café con piernas" cafes in Chile, which are very similar to Japanese maid cafes.

Blikkentrekker 6y ago
How is that similar to maid cafés, let alone cafés where the waiters act as if they be one's doting sibling? You seem to have reduced my rather wild and spectacular examples to something so mundane as: “Cafes that cater to lonely straight men or misogynistic businessmen exist”, especially when most of my examples have nothing to do with “straight men” or “misogynistic businessmen”.
- michaelpb 6y ago
  I don't know if there exists a cafe with a "sibling theme", but café con piernas is pretty similar in the other respects. There are a variety of different establishments where clientele are served coffee and pastries by women in revealing outfits, ranging from traditional outfits in short-skirts, to much more revealing costumes (often with partial nudity). All I was saying is that businesses that follow the model of "cafe, but also sex work" are world-wide, not just Japan and the US.

glandium 6y ago

Note: for many of the "weird" things you list, there's _one_ place doing it, not several, like the use of plural may suggest (AFAIK).

Blikkentrekker 6y ago
Such as which example? I have knowledge of the existence of multiple in almost all of what I listed.
- glandium 6y ago
  Used underwear vending machine, last I heard, there's only one. Yaoi cafe, AFAIK, there's only one. And I would be surprised if there's more than one cafe with the glass floor and no underwear.
  - Blikkentrekker 6y ago
    Well, you seem to be wrong about all three: https://livejapan.com/en/in-tokyo/in-pref-tokyo/in-ikebukuro/article-a0003600/ https://livejapan.com/en/in-tokyo/in-pref-tokyo/in-ikebukuro... This article reviews three different boy's love cafés, in close proximity to one another. I'm not sure how derive the conclusion that there is only one used underwear vending machine; a simple image search reveals many different models: https://www.techinasia.com/japan-used-panty-vending-machines-fact-fiction https://www.techinasia.com/japan-used-panty-vending-machines... This article concludes that the most extreme stories about one at every corner are an exaggeration, but one can definitely find them. As for the cafés without underwear: there is definitely more than one, though they've been on a decline. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-pan_kissa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-pan_kissa
    - glandium 6y ago
      > https://livejapan.com/en/in-tokyo/in-pref-tokyo/in-ikebukuro/article-a0003600/ https://livejapan.com/en/in-tokyo/in-pref-tokyo/in-ikebukuro... Of the 3, only the first one is overtly Yaoi. I don't know the second one, but it doesn't seem like one, and the Butler cafe is definitely not Yaoi. > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-pan_kissa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-pan_kissa After the boom in the 80s (30+ years ago), are there really any left, with the glass floor and everything?

el_dev_hell 6y ago

> but the rest of the world that has nothing that comes close to this well-inspired madness. I raise you the slightly hidden world of "tits on toast" from Australia. In regional cities/towns, you can go to certain local pubs early in the day (10AM - 12PM) and get a cheap breakfast served by topless waitresses. If the waitresses get enough tips, they allegedly remove everything. The breakfast is usually terrible (cold canned beans on toast with an egg).

eplanit 6y ago
In Fort Lauderdale, Florida (of course), there was a place named "R Donuts" with topless waitresses.[1] [1] https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/11/27/Topless-doughnut-shop-opens/3354501915600/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/11/27/Topless-doughnut-sho...
- nickik 6y ago
  > Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! Spends considerable time in a topless pancake restaurant if I remember correctly.
BelenusMordred 6y ago
> In regional cities/towns In certain areas yeah, but painting all the regions with that brush is strange. Most of the country couldn't handle anything of the sort and the place would be raided by the police in a day. Despite how many pretend play it up to be, Australia is an incredibly conservative country. The stuff you'll find in mining towns is far worse and basically the wild west. Barstaff will pour you out a beer using their bare asscheeks for a tip. Always wondered what the health authorities think of that.