Japan is expensive. Tokyo and Osaka consistently rank among the most expensive cities in the world. With the strong yen, Japan is even pricier for foreign visitors. It’s no steal for nerds, either. It’s highway robbery. Geek mecca Akihabara has a bevy of maid cafes to tempt otaku with cutesy food. Popular dishes include “rice omelets” or “hot cakes”, which are usually somewhere between ¥700 to ¥1,000 (US$9 to $13) at Akihabara maid cafes—well, ones staffed by dudes dressed as anime chicks. At normal restaurants, you can get a rice omelet—which is rice, eggs, and ketchup—for around ¥500 ($6.50)(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c&cid=872d12ce-453b-4870-845f-955919887e1b'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c" }).render("79703296e5134c75a2db6e1b64762017"); }); https://kotaku.com/busy-next-month-spend-time-with-nightmare-inducing-ani-5845348 Portions, of course, aren’t usually as generous as they are in the States. AKB48, Japan’s most popular idol group opened a pricey, new cafe in Akihabara last week. Rice omelets cost ¥1,480 ($19)—ditto for unappetizing pasta. The menu was drawn up by the AKB48 girls, something that costs patrons a premium. https://kotaku.com/girl-after-girl-throwing-themselves-at-you-5816135 The photos of the food don’t look appetizing at all! Anyone who’s been to touristy theme restaurants in the U.S. or Europe can yono all app vouch for crazy high prices. The point usually isn’t the food, but the experience. (ニュースevery | NKT) The cafe has a private room or “secret w69 slot base”, which is covered in doodles and signatures by AKB48 members. Fans can also doodle in a designated space on the wall. The room has AKB48 DVDs and magazines available for perusal. It costs ¥10,000 ($130) to rent the room for two hours. In the top photo, Tomomi Itano scribbles her signature on the private room’s wall. https://kotaku.com/lets-be-sensitive-about-height-mkay-453102320 You’d probably be better off at a regular old maid cafe. Then again, you might not be a hardcore AKB48 fan, willing to shell out hundreds of dollars for stacks of CD singles for the group’s handshaking events https://kotaku.com/the-moment-you-know-you-aint-popular-5687114 Apparently, around 200 people turned up when the cafe opened its doors. Whether it be sports or idols, otaku fans are hardcore. They obsess and love things to bits. That shouldn’t be a license to fleece them. Sadly, though, it is. Culture Smash is a daily dose of things topical, interesting and sometimes even awesome—game related and beyond. (Top photo: AKB48 | アルファルファモザイク ) You can contact Brian Ashcraft, the author of this post, at [email protected]. You can also find him on Twitter, H25 com สล็อต Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.