A Japanese company is taking the national campaign to reduce power consumption to extremes by prescribing an energy-saving haircut for all its staff.
By Julian Ryall in Tokyo
26 Aug 2011
Construction firm Maeda Corp. has requested that its 2,700 staff adopt identical hairstyles - the men a short back-and-sides but slightly longer on top and the women a "cute" bob with a longer fringe that can be swept to one side.
"Our company is very keen on protecting the environment and we encourage our staff to adopt many environment-friendly actions," said Chizuru Inoue, a spokesman for Maeda Corp.
"We are not sure of the data yet, but we believe if people have short hair they do not need to use their hair driers for so long and they will use less water," she said.
"If all our staff do this, then it may save a lot of power."
Another advantage, she said, is that it is easier to make short hair neat again after staff have been wearing hard hats and sweltering on construction sites.
"I've had a lot of our staff calling me yesterday and today to ask where they can get their hair cut in the correct style," Inoue said.
The Japanese government has called on companies and households to drastically reduce the amount of energy they consume after the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant was destroyed by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Other nuclear plants across the country have been shut down for emergency safety tests over the summer, usually the time of peak energy demand in Japan due to the heat and humidity.
Other companies have introduced power-saving schemes, including shifting production to weekends and at night.
Source
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