Japan’s Tokyo city male workers can wear shorts in summer. Some call it harassment
When Yuriko Koike was Japan’s environment minister in 2005, she was hailed by legions of salarymen as they shed ties and jackets in summer during the “Cool Biz” national energy-saving campaign that she helped to launch. Now, as Tokyo governor, Koike has taken the idea a step further: shorts in the o
By Julian Ryall
When Yuriko Koike was Japan’s environment minister in 2005, she was hailed by legions of salarymen as they shed ties and jackets in summer during the “Cool Biz” national energy-saving campaign that she helped to launch.
Now, as Tokyo governor, Koike has taken the idea a step further: shorts in the office.
In April, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said it would allow male employees to turn up for work in shorts, and it urged businesses across the capital to adopt similarly relaxed dress codes.
Tokyo Cool Biz, the city authorities’ update of the original national campaign, is intended to help employees feel more comfortable while potentially reducing electricity consumption amid rising fuel prices.
Temperatures have been rising across Japan in recent days, and weather forecasters warn that last summer’s record-breaking heat and humidity are expected to be surpassed this summer.
The backlash against the relaxed rules, however, has been swift.
Showing up in shorts in business meetings is “unprofessional”, according to some Japanese. Online users complain that looking at middle-aged men’s hairy legs in the office is “unpleasant” and “gross”.
“When Koike first announced the ‘Cool Biz’ project in 2005, I was delighted. When I started work in my 20s, I had no choice but to wear a tie and a suit, even in the heat of August,” said Ken Kato, a small business owner in Tokyo.
He said customers also had an “unpleasant” experience then, as they would see him dripping in perspiration.
However, Kato opposed Koike’s latest sartorial ruling for offices.
“I think wearing shorts to business meetings is too much,” he said. “I’m 56 years old, so I suppose you could call me ‘old school’, but it’s just too informal for me. I have been to business meetings in Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines, and the people there don’t wear shorts when it’s something important.”
Etiquette experts have also urged caution, saying shorts may be acceptable in some workplaces but inappropriate in more formal business settings.
Hiroko Nishide, head of Hiroko Manner Group and a manners consultant who has advised more than 300 companies, told Japanese lifestyle website Otonanswer: “If choosing shorts, manners require thinking not just, ‘They’re cool’, but also, ‘Are they appropriate for this setting?’ and ‘Could anyone find them uncomfortable?’”
Some women say it is unfair that they have to wear proper attire and stockings while men can go bare-legged at work.
An opinion article on the JP Lawyer News website said such double standards could be a breach of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, which prohibits discrimination against workers based on gender.
A new term, sunagahara, has even been coined for workplace harassment over bare legs.
“The wearing of shorts in the workplace has begun to gain acceptance, but will society accept women’s bare legs without stockings and including hair – because women also grow leg hair – in a business setting?” a user asked on the Weekly Women’s Prime magazine’s website, noting the imbalance in dress rules for men and women.
“If it’s acceptable for men, then it’s only natural to say that women’s bare legs should also be accepted.”
Another user said: “Isn’t this a good opportunity to get rid of ridiculous manners? The rule that women have to wear stockings was probably created by some manners fanatics from the Showa era [1926–1989], and I think it would be good to re-examine such ridiculous manners today, in the Reiwa era, and alter them to match the current climate and values.”
Sumie Kawakami, a social sciences lecturer at Yamanashi Gakuin University and a certified career consultant, said she was shocked that women would still have to wear stockings given Japan’s hot summers in recent years.
As for the dress code for men, Kawakami praised the idea of not forcing men to wear suits and ties in summer, adding that the “novelty” of people wearing shorts to work would wear off quickly.
“It was like that in 2005 when men started not wearing a tie. There were complaints and pushback, but people soon realised that not wearing a suit and tie when it’s 35 degrees outside is liberating,” Kawakami said.
“My feeling is that if someone wants to wear a suit, they are free to do so. But if they want to stay cooler on the way to work and in the office, and shorts are comfortable for them, then that should be acceptable as well.”
Last summer, 30 locations in 13 Japanese prefectures reported highs of above 40 degrees, with the city of Isesaki, Gunma prefecture, posting a record high of 41.8 degrees on August 5.
This summer’s weather forecasts could melt resistance against the Tokyo Cool Biz campaign.
Weather experts have warned of even higher temperatures, with an El Nino event forming over the Pacific, a situation potentially exacerbated by energy shortages that could sharply increase the use of air conditioners across Japan.