New Maid School Costs ¥290k to Teach You How to Be Fancy

Just found my next career pivot: a ¥290,000 online course on how to properly serve a wealthy person.

So, this is a thing now

When you hear “Maid School Japan,” your brain probably jumps straight to some 13-episode anime series. I know mine did. But no, this is an actual school, and it's less Akihabara and more… Downton Abbey, I guess.

It’s run by the Japan Butler Association, which already sounds incredibly serious. The whole point is to train people for legitimate household service for a “wealthy clientele,” not to learn how to draw ketchup hearts on an omurice.

The curriculum is… specific

Okay, so what exactly do you learn for the price of a decent used car? The 12-part curriculum includes some gems. You’ve got “Manners, demeanor, and grooming,” which is fair enough.

But then it gets into “Understanding the way of life and needs of wealthy society.” My understanding of that extends to knowing that the fancy grocery store has the cheese that isn't just a single plastic-wrapped slice. They'll also teach you “mindful choices of words,” which might finally be the thing that cracks keigo for me. 🤔

There's even a module on “fundamentals and applied techniques of luxury home cleaning.” I’d love to apply that to my 20-square-meter apartment and see what happens. Maybe I’ve been dusting my IKEA Lack table all wrong.

Your chance to level up your life skills

The full course, taught via Zoom on Tuesday and Thursday nights, will set you back ¥290,000 (US$1,815). Or you can dip your toes in with a single class for a cool ¥29,000. It’s open to anyone over 20, regardless of gender or experience.

The school says the skills are transferable to jobs like executive assistants or salespeople. You know, for when you need to apply “international etiquette and global service” while trying to hit your monthly sales quota.

The first term runs from July 28 to September 3. So, you've got some time to decide if this is the life change you've been waiting for.