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The icon (right) used on the seminar website was created by the first-year students of the seminar.

Professor Faculty of Law, Shintaro Osawa​

After graduating from School of Law at Waseda University in 2003, Osawa left the Graduate Graduate School of Law at the same university in 2012 after completing Osawa's doctoral studies. Osawa received Osawa's PhD in Law. Osawa has worked as Assistant Professor at the School of Law at Niigata University and Associate Professor Research Council Social Sciences at Chiba University before assuming Osawa's current position. Osawa's specialty is civil law, particularly financial security law with a focus on guarantees.

I was asked to write an article about my "passion for fashion (which I understood to mean "particularity")." It seems that they sensed some kind of "fashion sense" from the photos of me wearing a hat and a bow tie that were posted on the seminar's website and elsewhere.

It's true that I may be dressing in a way that makes me stand out. I don't generally blend in with the people on the street. At hotels, I'm often mistaken for an employee, and at hospitals, patients have mistaken me for a doctor. On the other hand, at various theme parks, I sometimes blend in more with the people on set than the cast (crew).

However, I think that I am incompatible with "fashion," which includes the meaning of "trend," and in fact I think that I am the opposite of it. I am not familiar with brands, and I have hardly ever read fashion magazines. But that would be the end of the story. So, I would like to talk about three things that I am aware of being "particular" about.

Wearing my trademark bowler hat and bowtie, I'm photographed with my seminar students (graduates).

First, regarding the hat and bowtie, which are also icons on the seminar's website, I place importance on the hat being a "bowler hat" and the bowtie being "hand-tied." For bowties and ties in general, the knot is both a design and a way of expressing one's personality, so I think it is important to tie the knot properly yourself. Next, I choose a "round collar" for my dress shirts. The reason for this is the same as for bowler hats, but ultimately it is for the simple reason that I "like round things."

Some bowler hats for autumn and winter. The brim should be short and the crown should be high.

From the perspective of "I like round things," I prefer bow ties with dots or similar.

Finally, and this may seem a bit unusual, I like to "match the color of metal." In other words, I usually wear accessories that contain metal, such as glasses, pocket watches, watch chains, cat badges (including felines), cufflinks, pens, braces (suspenders), and magnifying glasses (although at this point it may seem strange), and I try to match the color (material) of the "metal parts" of these to gold or silver. It would be nice if the "metal fittings on my bag" and "umbrella handles" were also the same, but I often have to prioritize the color of "leather" or "cloth" because of the combination with my clothes and shoes.

Photo on the left: Braces should be in the same color family as the bowtie. Like the bowtie, dots or a single color is best.
Right photo: The watch and chain can be changed depending on whether or not you are wearing a vest.

There are only two colors, "gold" and "silver," so once one piece of equipment is decided, the other colors are also decided. Usually, "glasses" or "watch" come first, but sometimes the color (material) of the jacket buttons is the basis. I bring at least one fountain pen and one ballpoint pen, with ink colors of "blue" and "black." You may think that I don't need a "cat badge," but as I love cats, the "cat badge" is very important to me.

Left photo: Ever since I was a child, I blamed my poor handwriting on pens, and before I knew it, I had collected a lot of them. I think many people in School of Law, where there are a lot of lectures and essays (exams), are particular about their pens.
Right photo: Glasses, cufflinks, magnifying glasses, and cat badges are also preferably rounded.

I don't know exactly why I ended up like this. It may have been the influence of my father, who was a little eccentric, taking time off work because "the color of my tie and shirt didn't match," and tying my father's tie in my father's own way. However, as is often seen historically, I think I may be using my appearance to hide my lack of confidence in my own abilities. As a researcher, I have to stand out with my own expertise. If I could do that, then perhaps all of these "obsessions" would be irrelevant.

A photo taken during a business trip to Suzhou, China