Thai Maid Cafe Closed

On the 17th of this month, a maid cafe in Thailand called "Akiba" closed permanently after being investigated by Thai officials a few months ago. Thai officials arrested the shop owner and another man for offering pornographic manga books in the shop, and also confiscated 200 volumes of manga. After the incident, the cafe's business experienced a rapid decline.

The Maid cafe trend has been spreading in Korea, Singapore, and many other Asian countries. Akiba claimed to be the first maid cafe to open in South Asia. The cafe scouted students from Chulalongkorn University to be its maids, and soon became a popular spot for manga fan from high school and junior high students. Recently, Akiba has shifted its main business to selling manga and anime related goods, as well as cosplay clothes imported from Japan. Parents of the Akiba's customers complained to the police about their children spending too too much time at Akiba, soon afterwards the police "attacked" Akiba.

According to one of the customers, he was confused by the police's action, since he had never seen any pornographic manga in Akiba, only normal manga. There is another maid cafe in Bangkok, someone commented that "there are a lot of anime and manga fans in Thailand, as the demand for maid cafe increase, I'm worried about the effect this may have on the image of the maid cafe."

ANN and Bangkok Post has more reports.

Source: Nikkan Sports