--I see. Conversely, have you ever had a moment of joy?

The French are a people who know everything about clothing. Some have been wearing custom-made clothes since their 20s, and some of them have ordered over 1,000 pieces to date. It's nice to be recognized by such discerning people.

Also, in Japan, you need to have a certain background, such as being featured in a magazine or having worked at a famous fashion house, but here, that doesn't matter. Even if you're Asian or foreign, people will tell you that they order from me because they think my work is good. That makes it rewarding.

For example, I have a customer who orders 45 pieces a year. He says I can only make about 50 pieces a year, so it's fine if I finish them gradually. He orders clothes from all over the world, including Milan, Rome, Savile Row, Hong Kong, and Japan. Of all the customers, it makes me happy that he says my clothes are the best.

--On the NHK program, Thomas Rontal (who served as artistic director for the fashion magazine Numero for many years and currently works on campaign advertisements for various high-end brands such as Christian Dior and Prada) appeared as one of your clients.

I think that many men at the center of fashion don't actually buy ready-to-wear. He is one of them, and he holds a special place in my circle of clients. Usually, if a client likes one outfit after it's finished, he'll order another, but this was different. He ordered three outfits at once and saw how it went.

He told me I could make the first outfit however I wanted. For the second outfit, he asked for an American 1950s style, and for the third outfit, he asked for a British style, which is his favorite. We talked about it for about 30 minutes, and then made and delivered them. When I asked him about his impressions of the third dress when I ordered my fourth, he replied, "I want to keep ordering from you, not from Italian or British tailors. It just so happens that the tailor I like is Japanese. He's younger than me, so I can still have him make more for me." In this way, the French are accustomed to the custom-order culture. They have the patience to take time and wait. The reason I didn't make any specific requests for the first two dresses seems to be that I thought it would be presumptuous of the tailor to ask, and I believe it's a rule not to be picky. I think it's best to build a relationship and have the tailor understand my tastes while making the dress. However, Thomas is particularly particular, and once rejected a 2mm difference in the size of the collar.

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