Crossing the Sea to Speak of Japanese Butler Culture

It has been some time. This is Butler Sebastian. Recently I was invited to cross the sea for a gathering concerning the butler culture of a certain country, and spoke there about the Japanese butler. Today, let me write a note from that journey.

For many years I have been engaged in the association's international exchange — forging ties with the world's butler schools and associations, visiting one another, learning together. This is an indispensable duty for raising the standard of the Japanese butler. This journey, too, was one such endeavour.

When one speaks of Japanese butler culture abroad, one is often met with surprise. "The butler is an English thing. Can there be a culture of its own in Japan?" Once, I braced myself no little at such questions. But now it is different. If I calmly explain, with materials at hand, the path of the All Japan Butler Association since 1890 and Japan's own culture of delicate attentiveness, many nod deeply. Culture is not a thing to contest for superiority, but to delight in one another's differences. Hold to that attitude, and borders never become walls.

Even at my age, travel teaches me much. Each word exchanged with fellow practitioners in a foreign land casts fresh light on the ground where I stand. Only after leaving Japan do the virtues of the Japanese butler come sharply into view. As one who loves gardening, I think of a land's climate when I see its flowers, and of a country's history when I hear its music. Travel is, too, this touching of the world's depth.

A butler's spirit crosses borders — this is my creed. Though the language and the manners differ, there is no border to the heart that considers others. To convey that one point, I shall keep crossing the sea, whenever I am needed. Thank you for staying with this long note.