A new coffee house named “Swallowtail” has opened in Tokyo for the specific purpose of catering to female otaku. When a woman enters, she is greeted by a young “butler” dressed in tails who leads her to a room done in the décor of a British country house.

Swallowtail has been a success, drawing more than 3,000 customers — roughly 100 a day — in the month since it opened March 24 in Higashi Ikebukuro, Toshima Ward, according to Ayako Abe, executive managing director of K-Books, which manages the coffee shop.

More than 80 percent of the customers are women, with those in their 20s and 30s forming the core group, she added.

“We didn’t expect to have such a large number of customers,” Abe said. “We’ve asked customers to make reservations on our Web site. All tables have been reserved until May 12, and weekends in May are fully booked.”

It is estimated that the male otaku market has reached 88.8 billion yen. Though comparable data is not available for female otaku, there are those who say that a comparable market may exist to cater to their needs as well.

According to the people who run the Swallowtail coffee shop:

Women have no one to serve them. In a virtual reality environment (at the butler cafe), I think many women want to spend some time when they can feel relaxed, drinking tea elegantly, and want to have a sense of superiority.

Thanks to Es for the pointer.