It is a far cry from the early 1980s, when a columnist used otaku to describe the thousands of men in their 20s who descended on the annual Comic Convention in Tokyo. The word was supposedly the opening gambit in the nerds’ faltering attempts to strike up conversations with women.

Most, though, prefer to confine their contact with the opposite sex to a genre of manga in which female characters are invariably dewy-eyed schoolgirls who, despite their outward naivety, are unfailingly accommodating in bed.

This skewed portrayal of women in manga and interactive computer games has led to charges that the otaku are at the root of unhealthy attitudes towards sex among young Japanese men.

But Momo, a French-maid waitress, says she is happy in the company of men who otherwise have trouble interacting with women. “I like talking to the customers here, even those who seem shy or might be here because they have some sort of Lolita complex.”