TV Asahi announced on May 21 that it will postpone the airing of a documentary dedicated to a Japanese maid cafe that employs women with developmental disabilities. The program was due to air on May 23, but has since been replaced, with no alternative airing date announced at the time of writing.
While TV Asahi did not provide a reason for the change of plans, this comes only a day after Tokyo Shimbun published a piece in which former staff of Star Blossom, a maid cafe for women with developmental disabilities and mental illnesses located in Osaka, blew the whistle on the establishment, alleging poor working conditions and below minimum wages.
According to the report, despite being signed as “paid volunteers” rather than workers, the women were required to work shifts (sometimes over 7 hours without breaks) and fulfill revenue quotas, which would normally constitute labor. They handled all tasks related to the cafe’s operations, from waiting on customers to preparing food, but allegedly only received renumeration of 800 yen per hour (the minimum wage in Japan is over 1,000 yen even in the lowest paying prefectures). Star Blossom is reportedly being investigated by the local Labor Standards Inspection Office based on these allegations.
Given that the maid cafe featured in TV Asahi’s documentary also focused on an establishment in Osaka, it seems highly likely that this is why the airing was cancelled. Meanwhile, Star Blossom, which describes its goal as “fostering greater understanding of the challenges faced by those with developmental disabilities and mental health conditions, and building a society where everyone can live together harmoniously, regardless of whether they have a disability,” has addressed the allegations on X. The establishment claims the reports “do not reflect our intentions nor actual circumstances, and were written from a one-sided perspective.” They intend to entrust the matter to lawyers and other relevant parties.
