Today I came across Kanzen Maid Sengen ("Declaration of perfect maiddom") singing a song about "Rockristmas" (ロックリスマス) and dancing in the rain outside Shibuya station for an audience that included everyone from curious passers-by to die-hard fans. (See the guy on the right, in blue? He, along with about five other guys spread throughout the audience, knew exactly which beats to pogo to and when to stay still.)

Observations:

• Rockristmas carolling before Rocktober is a serious faux pas.
• It is jarring to see such traditionally-attired maids jumping around to aggressively synthesized pseudo-trance doof-pop. Shouldn't their musical backing owe a little more to Elgar?
• Kanzen Maid Sengen have as many ex-members as members.
• Their blog had a post about this event up by 3:57, photo and audio greeting included.

I know that some of you may feel that my fascination with the maid thing has long ago crossed the border into Tiresome County, but this is living anthropology. It is a bubble of performed sexuality, and the only question is how it is going to pop. Will maids vanish entirely from the psycho-erotic landscape? Will they stake out some remote but unassailable territory like their 80s cousins the stewardesses, enjoying only periodic revivals? Or will they infiltrate pop culture so deeply that they become a permanent fixture, like schoolgirls?

And what will it take for Japan's women to get it together and start demanding that their boyfriends dress up as firemen or butlers or something?