INTERVIEWS BY TOMOKAZU KOSUGA
TRANSLATED BY LENA OISHI
PHOTOS BY TAKAAKI TANAKA Dieting is, sadly, an important ritual for girls all over the world. But as with everything else they do, the girls in Japan take it just that little bit too far, right up to the point where it’s basically obsessive-compulsive disorder. “Eat and lose weight!” diet fads are big here now. There are all-banana diets and all-
[fermented soybeans that smell like your feet took a shit on a pile of trash] diets. When these programs are shown on TV, you can bet that the product in question will miraculously disappear off the shelves of your local supermarket the next day. Eating and losing weight at the same time sounds, um, stupid to people like you and me, but for Japanese ladies who have tried every dieting fad in the book for decades, it’s just another way to avoid getting on a fucking treadmill and laying off the mochi, which is the only way to really lose weight.
But it’s also here in Japan that a bunch of not-so-thin girls run Pomeranian: The Chubby Maid Café, every month in the mecca of Akihabara. The waitresses all dress up in maid costumes, and they all have a nice, cozy amount of heft on them. They call their customers “master” and they attend to their every culinary whim and need. In Japan, the land that gave us rail-thin, orange-tanned, shopaholic gyaru, these chubby charmers are like a warm, soothing breeze that smells faintly of milk chocolate.
I felt a strange sense of calm at Pomeranian. Maybe it’s because the girls are unashamedly letting it all hang out, or perhaps it’s because being surrounded by chubby girls makes me forget how fat I am myself.
Either way, proudly showing off their flab in a nation famous for its low obesity rate and pressure to conform makes these girls sort of like the foodie equivalent of a crust-punk throwing a lit Molotov cocktail into a bank. Plus they’re cute. Did we say that already? They’re really cute. ICHIGO
Vice: When did you come up with the concept of the “chubby café”?
Ichigo: Maid cafés are very Japanese things. To be treated so gently by a waitress would shock a lot of people from other countries.
Have you had any particularly unique customers?
laughs Have you had any experiences where your chubbiness acted in your favor?
I’m chubby too. Do you think I should be more confident about myself?
laughs TSUKASA
Vice: You’re the head maid here. When did you start working at this café?
Tsukasa: What’s your main selling point?
Has working at Pomeranian changed you?
What’s your favorite food?
laughs What do you talk to the customers about?
Senpai Senpai KOZUE
Vice: What’s your role in the café?
Kozue: What’s your favorite food?
Do you play any sports?
What’s your signature pose when customers ask to take Polaroid shots with you?
You seem slimmer than the other maids here.
KAYA
Vice: How long has it been since you started working at Pomeranian?
Kaya: Where did you find out about it?
Utahime What’s your maid character?
What do you do to put across your serious side when in character?
What about when you talk?
keigo And how do the customers react?
Do you ever wish you could lose weight?
What’s changed for you since becoming a maid at Pomeranian?
What’s good about being chubby?
TRANSLATED BY LENA OISHI
PHOTOS BY TAKAAKI TANAKA Dieting is, sadly, an important ritual for girls all over the world. But as with everything else they do, the girls in Japan take it just that little bit too far, right up to the point where it’s basically obsessive-compulsive disorder. “Eat and lose weight!” diet fads are big here now. There are all-banana diets and all-
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But it’s also here in Japan that a bunch of not-so-thin girls run Pomeranian: The Chubby Maid Café, every month in the mecca of Akihabara. The waitresses all dress up in maid costumes, and they all have a nice, cozy amount of heft on them. They call their customers “master” and they attend to their every culinary whim and need. In Japan, the land that gave us rail-thin, orange-tanned, shopaholic gyaru, these chubby charmers are like a warm, soothing breeze that smells faintly of milk chocolate.
I felt a strange sense of calm at Pomeranian. Maybe it’s because the girls are unashamedly letting it all hang out, or perhaps it’s because being surrounded by chubby girls makes me forget how fat I am myself.
Either way, proudly showing off their flab in a nation famous for its low obesity rate and pressure to conform makes these girls sort of like the foodie equivalent of a crust-punk throwing a lit Molotov cocktail into a bank. Plus they’re cute. Did we say that already? They’re really cute. ICHIGO
Vice: When did you come up with the concept of the “chubby café”?
Ichigo: Maid cafés are very Japanese things. To be treated so gently by a waitress would shock a lot of people from other countries.
Have you had any particularly unique customers?
laughs Have you had any experiences where your chubbiness acted in your favor?
I’m chubby too. Do you think I should be more confident about myself?
laughs TSUKASA
Vice: You’re the head maid here. When did you start working at this café?
Tsukasa: What’s your main selling point?
Has working at Pomeranian changed you?
What’s your favorite food?
laughs What do you talk to the customers about?
Senpai Senpai KOZUE
Vice: What’s your role in the café?
Kozue: What’s your favorite food?
Do you play any sports?
What’s your signature pose when customers ask to take Polaroid shots with you?
You seem slimmer than the other maids here.
KAYA
Vice: How long has it been since you started working at Pomeranian?
Kaya: Where did you find out about it?
Utahime What’s your maid character?
What do you do to put across your serious side when in character?
What about when you talk?
keigo And how do the customers react?
Do you ever wish you could lose weight?
What’s changed for you since becoming a maid at Pomeranian?
What’s good about being chubby?
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