Related — THE BUTLER

THE BUTLER

A butler who has left the Manor, standing in the everyday life of homes and companies

Queen's Butler — Definition

About THE BUTLER

THE BUTLER is the butler service run by the same Japan Butler Association that runs Queen's Butler. Butlers in whom the Japanese heart of hospitality is laid over the craft of the western butler attend ordinary places, a household or a company, and take on the small labours of life and work.

From the manor to your door

As an afternoon at the Manor ends, have you ever thought, "If only this person were at home with me"?

Your things are ready, the coat that was kept for you is laid over your shoulders, and you are seen off beyond the door. There are ladies who, at the moment the Manor's hours close, feel exactly that. THE BUTLER is the Association's other desk, there to carry that feeling into daily life.

THE BUTLER official website

From THE BUTLER website: a butler receiving a lady's coat at the entrance to an occasion

An entrance that widens the hours of the Manor into daily life itself

At the Manor a butler waits beside you for the hours you have booked; with THE BUTLER you choose a tier, from a single three-hour engagement to a butler in residence, and receive a butler into daily life itself. This page introduces it from the side of the salon, as the way to carry home the bearing you met at the Manor.

The butler here is not someone who takes over the housework

The butler in question is not someone who takes housework off your hands, nor someone who does only what is asked. He reads what the mistress needs before she says it, moves like air, and creates room in time and mind. Cleaning and cooking are taken on too, but receiving guests, managing the diary and hospitality at the company are gathered up as well: a butler carrying 130 years of manners takes on all the small tasks that fall between life and work.

What differs is only the place, and the length of the hours

The butlers of the Manor and of THE BUTLER belong to the same Association and have passed the same certification. Only the place, and the length of time, differ.

Three fields

Three fields are taken on: daily life, work and the special day

From THE BUTLER website: a butler checking the household ledger in the entrance hall

Home

Keeping the household in order

From morning tea to turning down the bed, laundry, errands and watching over the children. A butler who has learnt the household's breathing takes over what you cannot reach, with the knowledge of housekeeping. The way a Manor butler sets the tea things by the pillow transfers straight to a morning at home.

From THE BUTLER website: a female butler presenting a letter to the master in the study

Business

Standing behind your work

Managing the diary, sorting expenses, arranging travel, preparing meetings and arranging cars. The butler takes over the chores that pile up alongside a business so that the owner can concentrate on decisions alone. Butlers who have worked across many industries act as a right hand.

From THE BUTLER website: a butler pouring wine at a dinner table

Occasions

Tailoring the special day

Birthdays, weddings, company functions. Setting up the venue, receiving guests, serving, running the programme and even a talk on etiquette at the table are taken on as one piece. Accompanying travel and receiving guests from overseas in English and other languages belong to this field as well.

Who calls

What kind of people bring a butler into their daily lives?

The households of busy executives and investors, two-career families with newborns or pre-school children, and homes where an elderly relative needing special care lives. THE BUTLER excels at taking the whole of such private clients' lives into its keeping, and has particular strength in supporting the stay of dignitaries visiting from abroad.

From THE BUTLER website: a butler bringing tea and cakes on a tray to a mother seated on a sofa by the window

Companies receive butlers for their best clients and their occasions

Among companies, the private banking divisions of securities houses, luxury hotels, luxury brands and foreign-owned firms bring in a butler for added value to their best clients and for the hospitality of VIP events. For individuals and companies alike, the scope of duty is assembled from your wishes each time: a complete bespoke.

From a butler for oneself to a butler for the household

For a lady of the Manor, THE BUTLER is the option that widens a few hours spent with up to six guests into the life of the whole family. At the Manor, only ladies may use the butler salon, but THE BUTLER draws no such line: husband, children and parents, the whole household, become the people the butler serves. Someone who learnt "a butler for myself" at the Manor comes next to think of "a butler for the house". The Manor and THE BUTLER stand side by side so that the doors open in that order.

Four tiers

Two tiers that begin with a short engagement

From THE BUTLER website: a day butler in a morning coat presenting the day's schedule in an executive office

Tier	Shape of the time	Suited occasions
Footman (Guest Footman)	From three hours. The smallest doorway	Serving at a party, accompanying you shopping, a butler surprise for a birthday, a first taste of a butler
Butler (Day Butler)	Up to eight hours a day, dedicated to you	A day with guests, shopping and advice on dress, secretarial work

From enquiry to the day

From the first enquiry to the proposal of a butler and a tier

From THE BUTLER website: a footman on his first visit, opening the front door and bowing deeply

First, a consultation (free)

It begins with telling the Association the dates and the scenes you wish to entrust to a butler. It may concern your life or your business. If you wish to continue with a butler you met at the Manor, please say so at this stage.

A proposal of butler and tier

The coordinator proposes the butler and the contract tier that suit the scene you have described. Day Butler or Private Butler: you need only choose from the candidates.

Four tiers

Two tiers for entrusting the work over time

Tier	Shape of the time	Suited occasions
Second Steward (Private Butler)	Monthly, with a dedicated butler attending regularly	Commuting and shopping, watching over the children, supporting both household and business continuously
House Steward	In residence 24 hours a day, 365 days a year	Running a large home, advising on assets, hosting distinguished guests, VIP and VVIP service

From enquiry to the day

From settling the arrangements to the door on the day

The coordinator handles the arrangements

Venue, programme and the butler's dress: the details that keep to etiquette are settled quietly by the coordinator. It is enough for you to tell us what you wish.

At the appointed hour, before your door

With the same bearing as the butler who waits at the Manor's door, a butler stands at the entrance of your home or company. Preparing before being asked and waiting quietly while not: that duty does not waver when the place changes.

The four tiers differ in the shape of the duty, not in rank

Most people confirm the fit with a Footman before moving up to a monthly or resident tier. Scope and fee are quoted individually after consultation, and a guide is set out on THE BUTLER official website.

Choose

You can choose your butler: the roster, the ranks and the practice room

Roster

The roster is public

THE BUTLER publishes the roster of its butlers so that you can compare faces and careers and choose. Butler Bell, the head, is himself listed as a house steward and still works on the front line. Being placed in the position of being chosen has become each butler's discipline.

From THE BUTLER website: a senior butler handing silver to a young butler, passing on the craft of each rank

Ranks

The rank tells you the strength

Footman, group of chamber, house steward. The Association's ranks mark tiers of experience and skill, and give you a clue to who excels at serving, who at accompanying, and who can run a whole house.

Salon

Polished at the Butler Salon in Aomi

The Association's Butler Salon in Odaiba doubles as a base for receiving visitors and as the butlers' practice room. In the same town as the Queen's Butler Manor, the butlers check each other's daily conduct.

From THE BUTLER website: a butler in a morning coat gesturing with an open palm in a lobby, briefing staff on the arrangements

At a glance

The outline of THE BUTLER as an undertaking

Service	THE BUTLER (butler service)
Operating body	Japan Butler Association (the same body as Queen's Butler)
Base	The Butler Salon in Aomi, Odaiba
Fields	Daily life / work / special days, with travel and international service / Butler Concierge (VVIP)

For business

Three shapes are prepared for corporate requests

From THE BUTLER's official site. A butler welcoming a visitor at a company entrance.

Spot

Only on the day it is needed, from three hours

A butler received for a single day: an event, or the visit of an important guest. Bookings begin at three hours, which suits an enquiry that wants first to see how a butler’s bearing works in the room. One butler at the reception desk is often enough to change the face of everyone who arrives.

From THE BUTLER's official site. A butler teaching seating order and greeting in a meeting room.

Regular

Once a week, once a month, repeated

A butler received at regular intervals. With each visit he comes to know the company’s air, the faces of its visitors and its settled rules. Only such accumulation lets him anticipate details that could not be asked about on a first day.

From THE BUTLER's official site. A butler demonstrating how wine is served.

Annual

Through the year, the same butler

A comprehensive annual agreement. It carries priority in booking, a reduced rate, and a named butler assigned to you. Not whoever happens to be free, but that butler, known in advance. This is the reassurance long-standing corporate clients choose.

At a glance

The four tiers, the butlers, and the link with the Manor

Four tiers	Footman from 3 hours / Butler 8 hours / Second Steward monthly / House Steward resident
Butlers	A public roster. Men and women in residence, refining their craft under a system of ranks
Link with the Manor	Continuing with a butler met at the Manor begins with a butler contract with your Buddy
Official website	https://thebutler.jp/

Where butlers stand

The places a butler stands are not only the doors of private houses.

Finance, property, hotels, professional practices. Companies that hold the receiving of guests in high regard invite THE BUTLER in. Sometimes a butler stands at the front line of trade itself, as in the finer floors of a department store. Individual company names are not made public out of confidentiality, but the shapes range widely, from a permanent reception desk to a single day’s event.

From THE BUTLER's official site. On a fine retail floor, a butler in a morning coat teaching two members of staff how to bow.

They are not called because hands are short

A butler is not called because there are too few hands. The moment a card is offered, the angle at which a cup is set down, the half step back on withdrawing: it is the sum of such details that leaves a client or guest certain that this company is different. Dignity is not explained in words; it is shown as bearing, and this is the thinking behind it.

What is hard to teach inside a company is shown on the floor itself

Instruction in manners on site is also undertaken. The angle of a greeting, the judgement of seating order, the line along which guests are led, matters hard to teach from within a company, are passed on by a butler showing them in the room itself. The measure is the same one a guest receives at the Manor.

From THE BUTLER's official site. A butler carrying drinks to guests at a private house gathering.

Five posts

Three posts that hold the door and the table

Reception and doorman	Standing at the door and the desk, welcoming those who arrive, taking coats, and leading them to the room where they are received.
Serving at table	Serving drink and food at meetings and receptions. Reading how the table is progressing and judging when to clear is part of the post.
Tea butler	Tea and coffee prepared from the temperature of the water to the manner of pouring. Preparation in front of the guest is also undertaken.

Passing it on

To pass something on is also part of a butler’s work

Table

The table for a dinner is settled beforehand

At a corporate dinner the table is decided before anyone is seated. The position of china and glass, the order of seats, the sequence of service. Reducing in advance what must be judged on the day is the butler’s preparation. The thinking is the same as in the dining room of the Manor.

From THE BUTLER's official site. A butler demonstrating service on a restaurant floor.

On site

A butler attends, and shows by example

A butler may attend a dining room and pass on the bearing of service by performing it. How a tray is held, how a table is approached, the interval before withdrawing. Seeing it once is quicker than any explanation.

One to one

One to one, beginning with the choice of words

There is also a form in which the choice of words and the carriage of the body are passed to one person alone. It is most often taken up by those with an appearance ahead of them, or a formal occasion approaching. The three hours of the apprentice experience at the Manor come from the same thinking.

Five posts

The seats of honoured guests, and the teaching of manners

Receiving guests of honour	At ceremonies and receptions, taking charge of the seats and the paths around guests of honour. The work is to arrange without being noticed.
Instruction in manners on site	Greeting, seating order, the line along which guests are led, the answering of a telephone. A butler attends and shows each by example.
The common premise	Every post is held by a butler belonging to the Association. Whether the engagement is a single day or a year, the bearing and the measure do not change.

The path

The entrance, and the beginning as a footman

The entrance asks neither schooling nor experience

No particular schooling or former trade is required to enter the profession, and those with no experience are welcomed. What is asked is the strength to face another person, the wish to move before being asked, and the habit of continued study.

As a footman, beside the door

Most butlers begin as footmen, receiving guests and serving at table. How a coat is taken at the Manor, how a silver tray is held level, are handed over one at a time by the butlers who came before.

The path

Holding a household, and leading others

As a butler, holding the whole house

With experience comes a post that holds not separate tasks but the running of the house itself. Arranging the order of a household’s days, and taking a hand where needed. This seeing of the whole is what divides the work from other trades.

As a house steward, leading others

At the highest step comes charge of several butlers and of the running of the whole residence. A path is set out in advance along which responsibility and reward widen with each grade. To have one’s name on the register is itself proof of that journey.

Because it enters the depths of a life, confidentiality and screening are set in two layers

Before any engagement with THE BUTLER begins, confidentiality is bound three ways, between Association, butler and client, and each side is checked for any link to organised crime. Keeping a level that withstands the screening of a securities house is the premise of this work.

No one is lent out; the Association undertakes and introduces

No butler is hired out as labour: the Association itself receives your request and introduces the butler under its own contract. Quality control and the response to anything untoward are the responsibility of the Association standing between.

The content and the figure are quoted individually, after listening

For VVIPs and public figures there is also a form, Butler Concierge, in which the content is tailored from scratch. In every case the final scope and fee are quoted individually after consultation.

For those who wish to continue, beyond the door, with the butler they met at the Manor

At the Queen's Butler Manor a butler waits constantly at your side in the dining room or the study, and you pass a single unbroken time from welcome to farewell. For those who, within that time, have come to trust a butler and wish him to serve at home too, the Manor offers a path called a butler contract with your Buddy.

From THE BUTLER website: a butler arranging the sofa on arrival at a seaside villa, travel luggage set to one side

The road that continues from the Manor

To keep in step, beyond the door, with the butler you walked beside at the Manor. A butler contract with your Buddy is the Manor's own doorway for carrying that wish to THE BUTLER.

Requests begin at the page on a butler contract with a buddy

Please first read the page on a butler contract with your Buddy, then consult through THE BUTLER official website. The butlers who can accept this are limited, but being able to start from a fit confirmed at the Manor is an advantage that an ordinary request to THE BUTLER does not have.

The place changes; the bearing of a butler does not

At the Manor and at home the butler's bearing is the same: reading the person, preparing in advance, standing neither too near nor too far. Only the place changes.

For a guide to fees and current availability, go to THE BUTLER official website

The details of each tier, a guide to fees and the enquiry desk are on THE BUTLER official website. If you write down, as far as they are decided, where you wish to bring a butler, the duty you wish to entrust and the timing before you consult, the proposal comes swiftly.

The register and the reading are on the official site as well

The official website also carries the butler roster and reading on the butler's dress and manners and the Association's history. We recommend it to those who, after meeting a butler at the Manor, wish to know that background.

It does not mean the hours at the Manor are no longer needed

One thing we would add from the Manor's side. Bringing in a butler from THE BUTLER does not make the Manor's hours unnecessary. The days on which a butler keeps your home in order, and the few hours in which you are received as a queen at the Manor, have different roles: the former lightens daily life, the latter takes you away from it. Because both are carried by the same Association's butlers, you can pass between them.

What this page settles, and what the official site settles

The range covered here, set out plainly.

What this page tells you

That the Manor's butlers and THE BUTLER's butlers belong to the same Association
The three fields of daily life, work and the special day
The four tiers of Footman, Butler, Second Steward and House Steward
The roster and ranks, and how confidentiality and screening are handled
The path for continuing with a butler you met at the Manor

What you decide on the official website

Fees for each tier and individual quotations
Current availability
A particular butler's schedule and whether he may be named
The career of each butler listed on the roster

Questions about THE BUTLER most often asked at the Manor

Eight questions guests ask most often, answered from the side of the Manor. For rates and for what is currently open, the official site of THE BUTLER is the latest word.

QHow does the Manor's butler salon differ from THE BUTLER?

The Manor is a place where, for the hours booked, a lady guest is served as its mistress. THE BUTLER is a service in which a butler comes to your home or company and supports life itself, from three hours to residence; the operating body is the same.

QCan I make a request as a first-timer?

Yes. The Footman, from three hours, is the smallest doorway, and most people bringing in a butler for the first time begin there. You can confirm the fit and then move up a tier.

QCan I ask for a female butler?

THE BUTLER has butlers of both sexes on its books, and the roster is public. Please state your preference at the consultation stage.

QCan a company engage a butler?

Yes. THE BUTLER also serves corporate clients. Three shapes are offered: three hours on the day of an event, regular weekly or monthly engagements, and an annual agreement with a named butler. Reception and door duties, serving at meetings and receptions, the receiving of guests of honour and instruction in manners on site are all undertaken. Please confirm the conditions and rates on the official site.

QCan I ask only for housework?

Housework is taken on, but a THE BUTLER butler differs from domestic help: he keeps the household in order including receiving guests and managing the diary. The scope you wish for is assembled individually.

QIs confidentiality kept?

A non-disclosure agreement is exchanged between the Association, the butler and you, and both sides are cleared of any link to organised crime before the first day. Responsibility rests with the Association standing between.

QCan I invite a butler I liked at the Manor to my home?

Please read the Manor's page on a butler contract with your Buddy, then consult through THE BUTLER official website. The butlers who can accept this are limited.

QWhere do I apply?

THE BUTLER official website, opened from the button at the top and the foot of this page, is the desk. The Manor's enquiry form is for Queen's Butler reservations only.

Japan Butler Association

The parent body that runs both the Manor and THE BUTLER, and the source of their manners and certification.

Japan Butler Academy

The school in Aomi where THE BUTLER's butlers learnt their craft.

From THE BUTLER website: a female butler carrying a tea tray through the entrance hall in the afternoon

A butler contract with your Buddy

For those who wish to continue, beyond the door, with a butler they came to trust at the Manor.

From THE BUTLER website: a butler in tails awaiting the family's return at the entrance at night

Reservation

For a butler at your own house or firm, THE BUTLER's official website is the place to consult.

The four tiers and a guide to fees are set out on THE BUTLER's own site; for the Manor itself, Queen's Butler takes your booking.

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