The number of people becoming patissiers is growing as media coverage and the growing number of international awards gives the profession a glamorous image.
The patissier boom began about 10 years ago.
"Since the latter half of the 1990s, the French word 'patissier' has been used for Western-style confectioners and they have made a fashionable impression," said an official at the Federation of Japan Confectionery Associations.