My work requires that I travel to Tokyo, and I take the opportunity to order suits.

Our company used to be a subsidiary, but I took it over when our parent company went bankrupt. Things have improved financially and we have been able to rebuild. The company provides measurement and information control services for civil engineering and disaster prevention. The size of the market is fairly small. For disaster prevention, we are mainly selling devices and developing systems (including IT) to measure river levels and earthquakes. Most of this is public works, which means that I spend a lot of time traveling around the country. I visit Tokyo frequently, and when I do, I try to stop by "batak" in Hibiya and order a suit. My tastes run to the poise of 1960s East Coast of North America. That's the generation and atmosphere that I like.

Mr. KAZUYA TAKAHARA | President, Ishizue Sogo Keikaku Co.,Ltd. Born in Toyama in 1956, and currently resides in Toyama. Graduated from Nihon University. Joined the company in 1987 and was primarily involved in the design and execution of disaster-prevention and management systems with emphasis on dams, rivers and agricultural water. Became president of the company in 2005.

For me, suits are excellent working clothes.

I consult with companies on their administration and human resources, and much of my work involves designing HR systems and providing employee training. I enjoy clothing, and particularly suits, as a personal pleasure that is completely unrelated to my work. (That being said, I obviously take pains to be presentable when I meet people.) When I was younger, I used to visit the clothing stores under the bridge in Kobe to buy what we called "Type 1" suits. What I need from a suit is an excellent set of work clothes. I am not looking for anything decorative. I try to wear things that are functional and simple. The style of suit I like the best is the kind worn by David Janssen in the TV series "The Fugitive."

Mr. FUMIHIKO NAKAO | Representative Partner, "H.R.M. Office" (labor and social security attorney office). Graduated from the Faculty of Law at Doshisha University. Opened the Nakao Labor and Social Security Attorney Office in 1994. Appointed director of the Osaka Association of Labor and Social Security Attorneys in 1997. Established "H.R.M. Office" in 2005. Also involved in training activities around Japan.

Actually, I hated clothes.

I used to hate clothes. I had absolutely no interest in them. That was around the time when I was at VAN JAC. I had a lot of resistance to the idea of “men getting all dressed up.” My thinking about clothes did a complete about-face when I met Nakadera-san. I learned that there was another world in which “dressing up” was not about superficial displays. When they worked on my order, his people took pains to make sure that the fashion did not call attention to itself. Europeans place a great deal of emphasis on universal concepts; I see it in my own business of Italian furniture. I want to create things that are orthodox, that will continue to be loved and used regardless of the fleeting whims of the times.

Mr.TADASHI HOSHINA｜President, ARFLEX JAPAN LTD. Joined VAN JACKET Inc. after graduation from Tama Art University. Responsible for interior design at the company’s stores. Later encountered ARFLEX and went to Italy for training. Became president of ARFLEX JAPAN LTD. upon return to Japan and continues to guide the company to this day. www.arflex.co.jp

The most important thing is “suitability.”

If you want to propose “durable designs,” you can’t be satisfied with mere intuition. Take hotels as an example. You have to investigate and categorize the customers who will be staying there from every different vantage point, uncover a unifying story and then propose a design that “suits” the hotel. Design is a service industry. Our job is to use the systematic technology that we have learned and the experiences that we have accumulated to propose the best answer to our customers. That requires more than just innate sensibility and talent. Before you can ever do the job, you must first have ties with the customer. I think that “bespoke” fashion plays an important role in that.

Mr. SEIICHI YONEHARA ｜ Interior designer. Joined Kajima Corp. after completing graduate studies in architecture at Musashino Art University. Assigned to Kajima International Inc. NY from 1987 to 1988. Joint Ilya Corp. in 1991. Served as an executive director at Ilya before going independent. Currently active as an interior designer.

Something you can wear without even noticing it. That’s what I consider “bespoke.”

What I emphasize in bespoke fashion is that it feel normal, that you not even be aware that you are wearing it. I would become restless when I wear something I’m not fully comfortable with. I can never relax if what I am wearing is at odds with how I ordinarily go about my life, and such clothes keep demanding my attention. As an editor, I should probably take a more dispassionate view of clothing, but the fact is I have never really thought that all men in the world must be a certain way or that men’s fashion must move in a certain direction.

Mr. HITOSHI OKAMOTO ｜ Born 1954 in Hokkaido. Joined a commercial broadcasting station after graduation from Waseda University. Later joined the “Magazine House” publishing company. Has been involved in a number of different lifestyle magazines, and was editor-in-chief of “RELAX.” Has worked as a writer since leaving the magazine. Books include “Today’s Shopping” and “Today’s Shopping Part 2,” both written with his wife (Petit Grand Publishing). www.landscape-products.net

I discovered my own style.

I ordered bespoke from batak as a way to commemorate my fiftieth birthday. I had never had any interest in bespoke fashion prior to that time. In fact, I thought that clothes were basically a matter of choosing “patterns” and “colors.” Several years ago I was at a tailor-made fashion event at a department store and encountered Nakadera-san’s work. I thought the suit itself looked wonderful. It was the kind of suit that James Bond would wear. I later visited the salon in Daikanyama. Once you experience bespoke fashion, you realize that “fitting” means more than just the dimensions of your body; it means that the clothes themselves suit to you.

Mr. HITOSHI IKEDA ｜ Born 1957 in Tokyo. Doctor and teacher at a university hospital in Tokyo. Gastroenterologist with a specialty in liver disease. In addition to academic research has authored “Lysophospholipid and the Liver (clinical chemistry)” and “Serum Autotaxin in Gastroenterology Disease (clinical pathology).”

Fashionable until I die.

When I was younger and couldn’t afford a suit, I was happy just buying a single necktie at a nice shop in Jiyugaoka. I even went to Okachimachi and bought a jacket from the occupation forces surplus store. They were cheap, but they still make me feel good. I’ve loved fashion and dressing up since I was very young. I first encountered batak about ten years ago. Up until that point, I had been patronizing a tailor of Fifth Avenue in New York. I want to continue to be fashionable and look my best even in my seventies. A lot of people, as they get older, quit worrying about fashion and shut themselves off at home. I want to stay at the forefront in all senses of the word. I intend to be fashionable until the day I die.

Mr. MORIKAZU SASAKI ｜ Born 1934 in Senzoku, Tokyo. Graduated from Keio University. Served as president of the “Sasaki Sougyo” construction company while also owning a chain of five Japanese steak restaurants called “Kampai of Tokyo” located primarily in the southeastern United States. His sense of fashion and self-management astound even the professionals.

The “Made in Japan” spirit

There’s something I confirmed in the process of traveling around Japan and meeting many wonderful people as I searched for the good things this country has to offer in crafts, local products and food delicacies. Actually, there are two things that I learned. The first is to look people in the eye when you speak with them, and the second is to believe in your own experiences. Sometime after I turned 40, I began to really understand the act of bespoke tailoring, of sitting with your knees up against the tailor’s and conversing as he makes your clothes. I never fail to be amazed at Japanese craftsmanship and places like “Batak” that take bespoke to levels not seen even in its home country of Britain. That is why I want to communicate the “Made in Japan” spirit to the world. I want excellent design to once again change Japan, and that keeps me very busy these days with the business, political and cultural communities.

Mr. Yukio Fujimaki: Member of the House of Councilors, Your Party. Began as a women’s apparel buyer at Isetan and went on to be appointed president and chairman of Fukusuke, a long-standing Japanese company that he was instrumental in turning around. From there, established his own company, “Fujimaki Japan.” Today, the “Fujimaki Department Store” is an on-line shop where you can discover excellent Japanese goods. Mr. Fujimaki was elected to the House of Councilors in 2012. www.yukiofujimaki.com2014年の3月15日、藤巻氏は逝去されました。
生前は格別のご高配を賜りましたことを感謝いたしますと共に、ご冥福をお祈りいたします。

Mid-century tastes, suits as ordinary wear

I have finally reached the age where I consider a suit to be ordinary, everyday clothing, and I've spent some time considering which kinds of suits work best for me. My tastes generally run to the mid-20th century. That's the atmosphere that works best for me, both with clothing, and other aspects as well. It seems to me that the pinnacle of contemporary culture was reached by Europe in the 1950s. If you look at fashions adopted by the artists in France and other countries, you realize that this was clothing that they ordinarily wore. It is that sense of the ordinary evoked by Parisian artists like Tsuguharu Fujita in his later years that I want to pursue.

Mr. Akira Sorimachi: Illustrator. Born in Tokyo. Member of the Tokyo Illustrators Society. In recent years, the Internet age has brought an increase in commissions from American, Swiss, British and French magazines. The character in the ANA Card commercials that run on Narita Express trains is an example of his work.
www.tis-home.com/akira-sorimachi

British goods are what tug at my heartstrings

There were many things that I wanted back when I was young and poor. Today, I don’t know if it’s because I gained a bit of taste, but I don’t really see much I want as I am walking around the city. At most, maybe a suit made by Batak. Sometimes, there will be something that tugs at my heartstrings, and when I take a closer look, it is for some reason almost always British. A while ago, I came upon a wonderful British dead stock coat, and I have a collection of valuable dead stock shoes of long-established shoemakers that I buy when I visit the UK.

Mr. Hiroyasu Nakagawa: President, UNION WORKS Co., Ltd. Born 1965. Went through many jobs after graduating from university, and at 25 encountered the profession of shoe restoration. At 29, went independent and founded the company “UNION WORKS” to provide shoe restoration (repair) services. Currently operates directly-managed stores in three locations, including Aoyama and Shibuya.www.union-works.co.jp

I insist on my principles.

In my generation, we insisted on playing by the rules. Maybe that is why I place a great deal of importance on the rules that govern clothing. I find it impossible to “dress down” like today’s young people. Maybe it’s because I was taught a systematic way of thinking about clothing. My generation first became aware of suits in the 1960s and the style worn by East Coast American Ivy Leaguers. I still want to create that kind of atmosphere, but on today’s market, there’s nothing that puts it together in a way that I want. I guess I’m naturally tend towards bespoke as a way to maintain my principles.

Mr. Motoki Shimizu: Born 1947. Copywriter, editor and representative at Motoki Shimizu Office Co., Ltd.Member of TCC. Member of the Marine Journalists Conference. Active in yachting and was a crewmember of “Sunbird,” an ocean race yacht owned by S&B Foods. Edited and published works include Kiyomi Mikuni’s “I’m There on the Plate” (Shibatashoten). Also writes scripts for “NHK World.”

Extremely ordinary.

For nearly 20 years I have worked with Nakadera-san in a series of trials and errors and only now am beginning to find my true bespoke style. The way I would describe it is “appropriate fit and perfect balance.” It is as if I have arrived at a style that is different from any standard tastes such as British and American. There is nothing that shouts out, there is no dissonance, there is nothing that makes a spectacle of itself. And that is what I think constitutes the “ultimate balance.”

Mr. Yoshifusa Nojiri: Owner, “Osaragi Saroh,” copywriter. After a career in the advertising industry, opened the “Osaragi Saroh” in Kamakura. The tea house is located in a vacation home formerly owned by Jiro Osaragi, the renowned author of “Paris Is Burning” (Pari Moyu) and” Homecoming” (Kikyo). Mr. Nojiri is Jiro Osaragi’s grandson. www.1938.jp/osaragi

Ordinary clothes mellow with age

Don’t get all excited because it’s bespoke. If anything, enjoy the fact that it’s ordinary. I don’t like clothes that draw too much attention to themselves. Your clothing should come from a positive sense of style, ideally from a desire to create a “proper atmosphere” and “good taste” while still being completely ordinary. But it should not be chosen just because you are working for a company. A proper atmosphere is something that develops with age. That is why I have always supported the sense that underlies British products. British products — and not just bags and shoes — become more perfect over time. When you have a suit made of stiff, strong British fabric, it will gradually, over the course of a few years, adapt itself to your body until it feels like a part of you. As time progresses, it takes on a completely different and deeper aspect than a newly tailored suit. You age as well, mellowing with your suit, and both become more attractive.

Mr. Katsuyuki Suzuki: Businessman. Began his career as an engineer, but currently works as a manager in charge of a broad range of operations. A customer for 14 years, his taste in clothing is consistent and unwavering. He also enjoys cooking and food.

The meaning of elegance

How much value can you discover in the unnecessary? The aesthetics are ruined if you thoughtlessly remove it just because it does not strictly need to be there. But if you overdo the decoration, it becomes vulgar. I learned that aesthetic from my great-grandfather, who was an Anglophile and also an officer of the court in what was then the Imperial Household Ministry. Even during the war, he continued to wear his homburg and double-breasted suit. I love the style of the 1930s because of the elegance at its core; it is something that has been lost today even in England. Back then, there were still people who took pride in Britain’s being an empire. That environment is what allowed the aesthetic of elegant decoration to take root. I think this is a sensibility that has something in common with the traditional values of the Japanese. In our world today, there is a tendency to eliminate elegance as an unnecessary value, but when we do that, we lose something that makes our lives more human and more enjoyable.

Mr. Atsushi Hanagata: Attended Fettes College, one of the most respected public schools in Edinburgh (UK; also the alma mater of former Prime Minister Blair). Graduated with a major in art history from University College London (UCL). Worked as an interpreter upon returning home to Japan, and started his own business at the age of 23. Manages Stella Co., Ltd., a group of beauty salons. Is also one of the world’s foremost collectors and researchers of cufflinks.

Unfashionable is best for those over 50

Ordinarily, I want to be a bit “understated.” I meet a lot of people in my work, and I want respectable clothing in which I can meet with anyone. My work often involves serious negotiations with people bearing heavy responsibilities, and I consider my clothing to be one of the tools of my trade, something that gives me peace of mind or even a bit of self-confidence. It should never be a cause for timidity. But that philosophy could also lead to clothing simply becoming too modest, and I think that is not so bad. I ordered some trousers last year, and I decided to go for a slightly larger cut because somewhere in the back of my mind was the idea that maybe it’s better to be a bit unfashionable when you’re over 50. They fit surprisingly well. I have learned all over again the importance of dressing your age.

Mr. Shoji Tanaka (not real name): Works at information and media company. Has been involved in account management in the advertising unit since joining. Currently in a management position, with emphasis on training younger employees. Extremely knowledgeable about cinema and books.

The Regularity of "Irregularity."

 After having had the experience of wearing custom-made clothing for myself, it occurred to me that such clothes are the ones that are "regular" while it is actually the ready-made variety that are "irregular." The irregularities of the human body are a good thing. Rarely is there perfect lateral symmetry, and there are variations in other dimensions as well. Ready-made clothes force all of these differences into the same standard forms; something I feel is truly unreasonable. Perhaps since the mid '60s, with the spread of ready-made suits, it has been mistakenly believed that this was the way to go, and even the creation of order-made products has been influenced by this "mass-produced" way of thinking. From that perspective, you could say batak is trying to defend the true nature of bespoke clothing, which is actually irregularity.

Mr. Hisaki Oguchi | Double-O Company representative.
I also handle development and production of promotions and advertising for a major advertising firm. I'm currently working on the development of conceptual and communicative aspects of marketing.