Butler ServiceButler Service
THE BUTLER
The butler service operated by the Association. Butlers trained to the Association's standard serve households, companies and VVIP clients, supporting daily life and hospitality as a whole.
Related Organizations
The organizations thatsustain butler culture
The Japan Butler Association sets and certifies the butler's standard. Under it, a media brand, a school, a butler service and a house where one is served are connected as a single flow.
I
Our network at a glance
Our NetworkAround the body that sets the standard, from learning to practice
Since 1890 the Association has trained and certified butlers and set the standard for butler culture in Japan. Incorporated in 2025, it maintains the quality of the profession through certification, corporate training and a published register.
Standard and field, back and forth
It matters that the body setting the standard also holds the places where that standard is worked. What happens in the field returns to the review of the standard, and the revised standard goes back out. When that circuit stops, a standard grows old on the page.
Four roles that do not overlap
To convey, to teach, to serve, and to let the work be experienced. Where a person first arrives depends on what draws them, but the butlers they reach were all raised to the same standard.
What this page introduces
Butler Bell for what is conveyed, the Japan Butler Academy for what is taught, THE BUTLER for what is served, and Queen's Butler for what is experienced. This page introduces the four and their connection with us.
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Four related sites
Related SitesButler Service
Media BrandMedia Brand
Butler Bell
The official media brand of Yuichi Ishii, head of the Association. Through YouTube, note essays and books, it conveys the true image of the butler and the spirit of hospitality to society.
Training InstitutionTraining Institution
Japan Butler Academy
The butler training institution operated by the Association. Three courses train butlers, and those who complete the course and pass the practical examination receive Association certification.
Butler SalonButler Salon
Queen's Butler
The butler salon for women operated by the Association. At a house in Odaiba, Tokyo, it brings together a butler salon, a studio and rental space, a butler apprentice experience and an online shop in one world.
III
How we are connected
Relationship
How We Are Connected
Under one Association, all connected
THE BUTLER, the Japan Butler Academy and Queen's Butler are businesses and institutions operated by the Association. Butler Bell is the official media brand of its head, Yuichi Ishii. Learning, communication and practice are connected under one Association.
Every entrance, one standard
The Association sets the Butler Standards common to all of these and carries out certification. Whichever entrance you take, you arrive at butlers trained to the same standard — that is the group's promise.
IV
Four promises we keep
Our PromisesThe four related sites are run as separate businesses. They hold the same quality because the Association carries promises common to them all. The four below apply equally to every one of these businesses and to every occasion of service.
Standard
Setting the standard
Courtesy, confidentiality and deportment are set down in chapters, and what makes a butler is published openly. A standard that has not been put into words can be neither taught nor verified.
Certification
Granting certification
Three tiers — Associate, Professional, Master — make the range of what may be entrusted clear to the butler and the client alike. Certification is proof of ability, not of attendance.
Register
Publishing the register
The career and strengths of every serving butler are published so that clients may choose for themselves. Having one's name in the open is a healthy pressure for a butler.
Discretion
Holding to discretion
Never carrying outside what is seen or heard comes before any skill. The same rule applies equally to private clients, to companies and to the house where the work is experienced.
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Learn, study, be served, experience
Your PathWhere should someone interested in butlers begin, and where should they go next? From the Association's standpoint, the four related sites form a single path.
You need not follow them in order
There is no need to follow them in order. Some begin by reading, some engage a butler straight away, some wish to experience the work first. Any entrance will do; the four are laid out as one road so that the next destination is clear when you want it.
1
Learn
2Learn — Butler Bell
What a butler is, the butler's wisdom and the businesses the Association oversees, told by its head, Yuichi Ishii, through video, articles and books. The first entry point to the world of butlers.
Study
3Study — Japan Butler Academy
Three courses whose curriculum is the Association's standard itself. Completion and a pass in the practical examination lead to Association certification.
Engage
4Be served — THE BUTLER
Butlers trained to the Association's standard serve households and companies. Clients choose their own butler from the register.
Experience
Experience — Queen's Butler
A butler salon for women in a house in Odaiba, where the time of being served itself is the experience, with a studio and a butler apprentice experience alongside.
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Frequently asked questions
FAQQ.What are the related sites?
A guide to the businesses and brands that support butler culture, centred on the Japan Butler Association. It introduces four sites: the butler service THE BUTLER, the media brand Butler Bell, the training institution Japan Butler Academy, and the butler salon for women Queen's Butler.
Q.How is each site related to the Japan Butler Association?
THE BUTLER, the Japan Butler Academy and Queen's Butler are businesses and institutions operated by the Association. Butler Bell is the official media brand of the Association's head, Yuichi Ishii. As the body that sets the standard common to all of them and carries out certification, the Association connects learning, communication, practice and experience.
Q.Where do I go to engage a butler?
Requests for butler service go through the official site of THE BUTLER (thebutler.jp), the butler service operated by the Association. You can also choose your own butler from the register.
Q.Where can I train to become a butler?
At the Japan Butler Academy (butler-academy.jp), operated by the Association. It offers three courses, Essential, Advanced and Master, and awards Association certification to those who complete a course and pass the practical examination.
Q.Can I experience being served by a butler?
Yes. Queen's Butler (queensbutler.jp), operated by the Association, is a butler salon for women in a house in Odaiba, Tokyo, offering the time of being served by a butler. The studio and rental space and the butler apprentice experience are open to men and women. Visits are by reservation only.
Q.Where can I find each official page?
Use "Learn more" on each card to open its introduction page within our site, and "Official site" to open each external official page in a new window. The addresses are thebutler.jp, butlerbell.jp, butler-academy.jp and queensbutler.jp.
Interested in butler training or certification?
For questions about the certification system, corporate training or any of the services, please feel free to contact us.