All of the help at the Hibari-tei cafe in bustling Akihabara are dressed as maids, and they call the customers "master." It's pretty much like any other "maid cafe" in Tokyo's electronics district, except for one small detail. All of them are male, wearing wigs to go along with their female uniforms.
Male "maid cafes" are growing more common, and books on how to dress like a woman are starting to hit store shelves. Men wearing skirts have also been seen in Tokyo's Harajuku and Aoyama districts.
Behind this nascent trend, observers say, is that more men are beginning to enjoy dressing as a woman from a fashion viewpoint, and society is becoming more tolerant of the practice.