The Salaryman Gets Cool

[Captain Japan]

Is a Salaryman Without a Suit Like Sushi Without the Rice?
New York Times

TOKYO, May 19 - The fashion models who prowl the catwalks of Japan tend to be long-legged and slinky. But the latest style setter here has a leonine glare and the kind of commanding bark that makes junior executives sit up and take notice.

Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of Toyota Motor, Japan's largest company, is about to make his runway debut, promenading before the cameras for a new national campaign to cajole Japanese men to help the nation save energy by shedding their jackets and ties in summer.

This blatant appeal to hierarchy comes as Japan - the world's second-largest oil importer, after the United States - charts a sartorial revolution intended to cut summer air-conditioning bills. The dark business suit, the beloved uniform for generations of salarymen, is supposed to stay at home this summer. All public and private offices - in a bid to save energy and reduce output of global warming gases - are to set their air-conditioners at 28 degrees centigrade, or a sweltering 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Japanese often feel they cannot do this or that if their bosses are not doing it," said Yoshihisa Fujita, the environment ministry official in charge of the campaign. "We targeted top executives of major corporations to lead the movement because smaller company employees would feel, 'We cannot remove neckties when our customer, company people, wear them.' "...more...

See also:
Salarymen Shape Up!
The Drunk Salaryman: A Case Study

This article will die soon so I'll put the whole thing in the next message.

[Captain Japan]

Is a Salaryman Without a Suit Like Sushi Without the Rice?
New York Times

TOKYO, May 19 - The fashion models who prowl the catwalks of Japan tend to be long-legged and slinky. But the latest style setter here has a leonine glare and the kind of commanding bark that makes junior executives sit up and take notice.

Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of Toyota Motor, Japan's largest company, is about to make his runway debut, promenading before the cameras for a new national campaign to cajole Japanese men to help the nation save energy by shedding their jackets and ties in summer.

This blatant appeal to hierarchy comes as Japan - the world's second-largest oil importer, after the United States - charts a sartorial revolution intended to cut summer air-conditioning bills. The dark business suit, the beloved uniform for generations of salarymen, is supposed to stay at home this summer. All public and private offices - in a bid to save energy and reduce output of global warming gases - are to set their air-conditioners at 28 degrees centigrade, or a sweltering 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

"Japanese often feel they cannot do this or that if their bosses are not doing it," said Yoshihisa Fujita, the environment ministry official in charge of the campaign. "We targeted top executives of major corporations to lead the movement because smaller company employees would feel, 'We cannot remove neckties when our customer, company people, wear them.' "

Until now, office air-conditioning settings have varied, with some women complaining of glacial temperatures that allow their male colleagues' suits to look crisp. Next Tuesday, a rules committee of the lower house of Parliament is expected to vote to allow members to doff their coats in offices and committee rooms, a throwback to the 1950's, before air-conditioning.

With air-conditioners blasting less hot air into streets, the nation's dominant city also hopes to attack its summer "heat island" syndrome. With few parks, vast swathes of cement and new high-rises blocking sea breezes, Tokyo's number of "tropical nights" - when thermometers never drop below 77 degrees Fahrenheit - jumped to 41 last year from fewer than 5 a century ago.

"This summer I will not allow anybody with tie or jacket into my office," the environment minister, Yuriko Koike, told ministry employees on April 1, well in advance of the June 1 unofficial start of the air-conditioning season. In a press conference, she said that Cool Biz, a vaguely American fashion label pronounced "kuuru bizu," had been chosen among 3,200 suggestions submitted for Japan's new casual summer look.

Some Japanese men sniff a plot by the nation's apparel industry to copy the boom enjoyed by American men's clothing stores a decade ago, when Casual Fridays forced office workers to augment their wardrobes with pressed khakis and nice sports shirts.

"We welcome the Cool Biz move; it is a favorable wind for us," Masaaki Kato, spokesman for Renown D'urban Holdings, one of Japan's largest apparel companies, said in an interview. "The fence between business and casual has been crumbling recently. There is a decline in the traditional view that the man who is wearing a suit is a businessman and the man who's not is unemployed."

The catchy Cool Biz name is essential because many Japanese cringe at memories of a fashion crime committed by a prime minister after the 1970's oil shock. Called the "energy saving" look, this short-lived suit featured jacket sleeves cut off above the elbows. This hybrid salaryman safari suit bombed.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi unveiled the casual summer look in April, pitching it as part of Japan's effort to meet its 2012 goal of cutting its emissions of greenhouse gases by 6 percent from 1990's levels.

"The government will take the lead in prevention of global warming," he said. "From this summer, government is planning to start no necktie, no jacket."

Japan is the birthplace of the Kyoto Protocol, which only adds to the popularity of the global warming pact here. In an Asahi newspaper telephone poll last November, 79 percent of respondents said they believed that global warming was their "own problem."

Last month, Mr. Koizumi's entire cabinet approved casual business dress guidelines, a first for Japan. The policy calls on government officials "during June through the end of September, to work with light clothes with moderation that would not deviate from social norm, except for unavoidable situations brought about by diplomatic protocol, etc."

Bureaucrats mortified by informality can wear pins blaming their casual look on the national drive to meet Kyoto targets: "28 degrees/we are in the summer casual dress campaign to achieve minus 6 percent."

But salarymen are not expected to surrender their dark suits without a fight. On a recent afternoon in Otemachi, Tokyo's financial district, men on their lunch breaks predicted little loosening of one of the world's most conservative dress codes.

"The main obstacle is outside the company," said Seiichiro Yabui, a 36-year-old salesman. "How you appear when you meet clients, especially old clients."

Noriyuki Ushiyama, 51, agreed. "In Japan, the relationship toward the customers is a very delicate one," he said. "For a dress code change to become real, you have to start right there."

Members of the Diet have worried that going tieless would erode "the authority of the Diet." Others have worried about live TV broadcasts.

Several younger men have shown near panic at the idea of having to improvise a wardrobe beyond a white shirt, dark tie and black suit.

"There is something very convenient about wearing suits," said Naoto Oshima, 33, a systems engineer. "It is very easy to get dressed in the morning. I don't have to worry about what to wear to work at all."

Tomonari Kori, 25, stated flatly: "I wouldn't know what to wear if we had to dress down."

Shinro Hayashi, editor of Men's Club, Japan's oldest men's fashion magazine, traced the salaryman's comfort in the anonymity of a dark suit to a group ethic that dates back to feudal days.

"Japanese wear suits so much because of their sense of belonging to a house, sense of belonging to a clan," he said. "By wearing uniformed suits, you can hide in the uniform and not reveal your individuality."

Beyond that, the suit means business. "The suit represents, in a world language, that the guy you are talking to understands the sense of contract, the rules of business," said Mr. Hayashi, who was wearing blue jeans and a white cotton shirt with French cuffs. "Twenty years ago representatives of the Chinese Communist Party never wore suits. Look at them now."

To wean more Japanese men from their suits, the government has asked a famous cartoonist, Kenshi Hirokane, to start dressing his main character, a salaryman, in Cool Biz.

But bracing for diehard sartorial resistance, the government also is preparing to play fashion hardball.

Mr. Okuda of Toyota not only leads Japan's largest company, he is also chairman of the nation's most powerful business group, Keidanren, or the Japan Business Federation. That first Sunday in June, when he walks, or marches, down the catwalk, trailed by 12 lesser executives, it will be national news.

"Mr. Okuda is the top businessman in Japan," Mr. Hayashi said. "If he is really serious about the no-tie movement, the father of the house must demonstrate it himself."

But what happens if the following Monday morning, the business-suited legions march on to Tokyo's trains as if nothing had happened? The next step could be random, unannounced office raids by fashion police.

[gaijinzilla]

instead of coming up with BS like this, why don't the leaders (political & business) of Japan come up with valid alternatives to conserve energy or wean the nation from using oil as a primary energy source?
Plus what is the deal with comments such as:
"The government will take the lead in prevention of global warming," he said. "From this summer, government is planning to start no necktie, no jacket."
or:
Tomonari Kori, 25, stated flatly: "I wouldn't know what to wear if we had to dress down."
Huh?!?

Every time I read articles like this, I have to wonder what they hell is going on.

[Samurai_Jerk]

in a bid to save energy and reduce output of global warming gases - are to set their air-conditioners at 28 degrees centigrade, or a sweltering 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Fucking great. As if Japanese offices aren't already hot enough.

[Mike Oxlong]

in a bid to save energy and reduce output of global warming gases - are to set their air-conditioners at 28 degrees centigrade, or a sweltering 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Fucking great. As if Japanese offices aren't already hot enough.

No kidding! Just blame that '60s style construction. Little or no insulation, one weak A/C unit in a corner or against the wall. That equals lots of hot air in, defeating the minimal output of the A/C. Of course, those seated close to the A/C freeze, while those farther away swelter.

People don't seem to grasp the concept that insulation and double-pane windows actually keep cool air IN during the summer, as well as keeping cool air OUT in the winter..."Oh, we can't use insulation in Japan like you foreigners do overseas. It's too hot in summer in Japan for that! We need cool, traditional construction to deal with the heat. By the way, do you have 4 seasons in your country? I guess not, only Japan has 4 seasons!"

[FG Lurker]

Fucking great. As if Japanese offices aren't already hot enough.

Try living in HK... The offices there are all fucking refrigerators.

Too bad no one seems to understand the concept of "middle" or "medium".

[gomichild]

HUH?? Every office I've worked in here has been freezing. I spend summer wrapped in a blanket at my desk.

[FG Lurker]

HUH?? Every office I've worked in here has been freezing. I spend summer wrapped in a blanket at my desk.

Damn, wish I could say that.

Where I work these days all summer is like one long "air con war". The old hag (yes, she really is) in accounting constantly turns the frickin thing OFF! Damn I wish shachou would hurry up and fire her ass!

[Samurai_Jerk]

Gomichild, I think part of the problem is the difference between men and women. I noticed when I was teaching that whenever the guys in my class were comfortable the girls were too cold and whenever the girls were comfortable the guys complained it was too hot. Being a man, I usually sided with the guys and cranked up the AC. Fuck dem bitches

FGL, I've traveled in HK and have never experienced AC like that (and I like things cold). It's fucking awful. Especially when you get caught in one of the regular summer rainstorm and then head into a shopping mall or some other place soaking wet.

[Captain Japan]

Fashion mags nag middle-aged men to be `cool'-and pay for it
Asahi

Fashion magazines (and their advertisers) have pulled out all the stops to convince middle-aged guys that deep in their hearts they really want to be "cool."

They've even coined phrases "choi waru" (a bit bad) and "koyaji" (older men who act young and care about their appearance) to make this narcissism acceptable.

Whether they focus on their looks or on their health-this increased self-awareness should at least boost self-esteem and has the potential to do more. Quit smoking and live longer; buy a suit that fits and get promoted.

Satoshi Takahashi, 40, a salesman at a health food company, does a lot of business with women. About two years ago he developed a crisis of confidence when his women clients began directing "cool gazes" at him. Paranoia? Maybe, but the Yokohama resident said he couldn't get in the groove with his sales patter no matter how hard he tried.

Takahashi began wondering about his first impression. Was it his face, his clothes, or some intangible? He didn't have a clue.

After a period of solitary worrying, he got up the gumption and tiptoed into Fellows, a beauty salon for men he learned about on the Internet.

On his first visit to the Adachi Ward, Tokyo, salon, he wasn't very adventurous-he got a haircut. But a few days later, he dared to be different and forked over 6,825 yen to have his eyebrows trimmed....more...

[FG Lurker]

FGL, I've traveled in HK and have never experienced AC like that (and I like things cold). It's fucking awful. Especially when you get caught in one of the regular summer rainstorm and then head into a shopping mall or some other place soaking wet.

I get to HK a few times a year on business. All the offices, hotel lobbies, and restaurants seem to have things set on "frozen solid". I like good aircon -- just not when it is set on "sub zero".

[Captain Japan]

The Asahi has been putting out some pretty good stuff this year but I think they missed the boat on this one...
EDITORIAL: Cool Biz campaign
Asahi

The trend could promote creativity in Japan.

Men sporting the so-called Cool Biz look-no jacket, no tie-are now seen in greater numbers in Tokyo's government and business districts. The casual summer fashion, so named by the Environment Ministry, is meant to help businessmen look and feel cool even if the office air conditioner is turned down a notch or two.

Japan has hot and humid summers. It's a miserable season for men who have to wear not only a jacket but also a tie that prevents any cool breeze from blowing around their necks.

Under its proposed nationwide movement in the fight against global warming, the government is asking offices around Japan to set their air conditioner temperature at 28 degrees.

A cool building is always a wonderful oasis of any congested city. But now that the government no longer permits this luxury, what else can men do but shed their jackets and ties? Actually, this must be a welcome development for women who have complained that office temperatures were too cold....more...

This part is hopeless:

The United States has led the world in information technology and benefited from it more than any other country. Young people in jeans, working out of their Silicon Valley offices, started one venture business after another and reaped billions of dollars in profits.

A change in fashion could change the nation's economy. In a recently issued proposal titled ``Kigyo ni Yoru Shinjigyo Sozo no Sokushin ni Mukete'' (Promoting the creation of new venture businesses), the Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai) noted to the effect that Japan must have the courage to free itself of old fetters if it wants to become a nation full of innovative entrepreneurs.

Changing to summer clothes makes one feel different. By the same token, the Cool Biz initiative could make Japan a more creative society.

[cstaylor]

I think the excoriation of Horie showed that Japan has a ways to go before adopting "Silicon cool".

[Taro Toporific]

This survey is not what I'm seeing....on the train all the salarymen are carrying their jackets and not wearing Hawaiian shirts.

Nearly half of Japan businessmen adopt 'Cool Biz' dress code: survey
TOKYO, Aug. 17 KYODO
Nearly half of Japanese businessmen have been spending their office and commuting hours without ties and jackets this summer, under the so-called ''Cool Biz'' dress code in a government-backed campaign designed to help save energy for air conditioning, according to a poll released Wednesday....more...

[Mulboyne]

Reuters: Japan to promote "Warm Biz" look to save energy
Spurred by the success of a "Cool Biz" campaign this summer that encouraged men to dress down to save energy, Japan plans to continue conservation efforts this fall and winter by promoting "Warm Biz" fashion. Government workers and politicians, known for conservative fashions, have been encouraged to leave off coats and ties between June 1 and September 30 so that air conditioner thermostats can be set higher to help fight global warming. From October 1, however, public sector thermostats will be turned down to 20 C (68 F) and workers urged to layer up. "There are various combinations of dress that we envision, but thermal underwear is definitely going to be crucial," an official at the Environment Ministry said...more...

[IkemenTommy]

Now that summer is almost over and along with this year's cool biz fad, the next big thing will be warm biz.

When it's cold, you wear an extra layer and not rely so much on the heater. By setting the thermostat at 20C, you will be doing your part to reduce global warming..

Scheduled to be in effect Oct. 1

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: Cool Biz too hot for our air-conditioned lives

According to a survey, the government-led Cool Biz campaign to encourage people to dress down during the height of summer has caught on with only about 20 percent of companies. About half of the companies that responded to the survey said they had no plans to introduce it. On the whole, it seems the movement remains unpopular. The government encourages offices to keep room temperatures at 28 degrees and employees to wear short sleeves wihtout neckties to work in a comfortable environment. But it is unclear why the target temperature is set at 28 degrees...Although this is only a guess, I think that before the ordinance was enforced in 1972, it was generally thought that 28 degrees was a temperature at which people could stay active without feeling physically and psychologically uncomfortable during hot Japanese summers. But unlike today, air conditioners were still a luxury back then. As summer progressed, people gradually got used to rising temperatures so that by the height of summer, they could physically withstand intense heat. Once their bodies adapt to intense heat, it is the same as a drop of 2 degrees in sensory temperature. In other words, a room temperature of 28 degrees is comfortable for people whose bodies have acclimated to high temperatures. By contrast, office workers today mostly work in air-conditioned offices and have few opportunities to physically acclimate themselves to heat. Unless they get used to high temperatures, they feel uncomfortable in a room set at 28 degrees. In short, so long as they maintain the same lifestyle, they cannot feel comfortable with the Cool Biz dress code alone.

It has been reported that "Cool Biz" clothing sales have been strong but I wonder whether there will be any real impact on energy consumption. If the effect of the campaign is purely on men's fashion then it is even more likely that the "Warm Biz" campaign will have little success since thermal underwear is not really a fashion staple.

[kurohinge1]

And it's now been picked up in the UK:

Hot workers urged to adopt cool Japanese summer dress code

[color="RoyalBlue"]18/07/2006[/color]

The TUC is today launching its &#22243]more[/B]

I've made some dress-code suggestions to our office manager for our firm to follow suit (excuse the pun), but my cunning plan requires about 6 new staff:

[Taro Toporific]

Hot workers urged to adopt cool Japanese summer dress code

Doesn't the UK already have a problem with ninja attacks?
Miss Japan Kurara Chibana....

[Taro Toporific]

Doesn't the UK already have a problem with ninja attacks?
]Miss Japan Kurara Chibana....

[floatr][/floatr]
Miss USA and 19 Others Make Initial Cut
LOS ANGELES Jul 23, 2006 (AP)...hopefuls made the first cut Sunday night in their bids to reign as Miss Universe 2006..... Several of the contestants sported costumes featuring colorful native dress, including feathers, sequins, fur, massive headpieces and, in the case of Miss Japan, a Samurai sword.
The rest of the top 20: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Hungary, India,[SIZE="2"] Japan,[/SIZE] Mexico, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago and Ukraine...more...

However, just moments ago....
Miss Puerto Rico crowned Miss Universe

[Captain Japan]

My office started cool biz again on Friday. What people don't seem to realize is that without properly functioning cooling systems the plan is absolutely useless.
Japan 'Cool Biz' campaign gets off to a chilly start
China Post

An unseasonal chill had some Cabinet ministers shivering in their short-sleeved shirts as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe launched Japan's annual "Cool Biz" fashion campaign to save energy and fight global warming.

Japan began its "Cool Biz" push two years ago to get office workers to shed their stuffy suits and ties and keep thermostats at 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit) as a way to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Known as a stylish dresser himself, Abe had instructed his Cabinet members to wear 'kariyushi' summer wear from the southern island of Okinawa, similar to Hawaiian aloha shirts.

"It's nice and comfortable. But today it seems a bit chilly," Health Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa, clad in a blue short-sleeved shirt imprinted with tiny red cats and birds native to Okinawa, told reporters...more...

[halfnip]

I love the cool biz push. What I do_not_like is when I go in to a Japanese client sweating my ass off because it's 30 degrees outside, 28 degrees inside and they decide to serve me a blazing hot cup of ocha while I wait for my meeting.

[Captain Japan]

I knew there was a reason for Cool Biz...
Cool Biz campaign running costs reach 76,300 yen per day for campaign worker
Mainichi

Cool Biz, the government's campaign to combat global warming by getting people to wear thinner clothes during summer, is costing taxpayers up to 76,300 to employ an advertising agency worker per day, an opposition legislator revealed at a Diet committee meeting.

This translates into 10,000 yen an hour.

Hakuhodo Inc. and the ministry signed a three-year deal to run Cool Biz in 2005, allocating a 2.7 billion yen budget this fiscal year and expected to top 8 billion yen for the duration of the agreement.

Democratic Party of Japan legislator Renho asked the ministry in a House of Councillors Committee on Education, Culture and Science if it did not consider the cost of the Cool Biz campaign to be too high.

Ministry officials defended the expenditure.

"Considering the promotional activities going into the campaign, the cost is appropriate," a ministry official said. "This is not waste, but your point will be noted."...more...