President's Message

Thank you for visiting this page. I am Butler Bell, president of Japan Butler Academy and Third Todori (head) of The All Japan Butler Association. To everyone who has taken an interest in the butler profession, I offer my sincere thanks.

A butler's work cannot be told through the polished surface of hospitality alone. Sensing what the other person needs before it is spoken, and quietly attending to it — it is through this discipline and conduct, repeated again and again, that true hospitality is born. For years, I have shared butler culture with society through the "Butler Bell" YouTube channel and other media, and at the root of that work is a wish to position the butler profession as a field evaluated against clear standards.

Japan Butler Academy was established as the education division operated by The All Japan Butler Association. The Association carries out the training and certification of butlers and corporate programs; the Academy is where that work has been crystallized into a single place of structured learning. Through a step-by-step curriculum from Essential to Master level, we have built an environment where anyone can acquire the discipline and conduct of a butler against clear, consistent standards.

The Association was founded in 1890 (Meiji 23). Ever since, it has passed down a way of working in which butlers stay out of public view and meet their clients only through trusted introductions. That pride was long the backbone of the Association, yet it also meant that those who needed a butler had no way of finding one themselves. As the Third Todori, I set out a single phrase: an age in which you choose your butler. We published the register of butlers in our ranks, made our fees clear, and opened a point of contact for requests that come without an introduction. Then, in February 2025, we established the Association as an incorporated association.

It is also true that opinion within the Association was divided over this decision. The discussion was carried through to its end, and some chose to walk a different path. I chose this road nonetheless, so that the butler's craft may be handed on to the next hundred years. What each side sought to protect was the same. Holding that respect close, we are taking the first steps of a new Butler Association.

Some of you who are interested in the butler profession may feel a certain distance from its traditional world. But the essence of this work lies in caring about others and expressing that care through consistent conduct. This path is open to anyone with the will to learn. I look forward to exploring the depth of the butler profession together with you at Japan Butler Academy.