简体中文
For those who work in Japan, especially in the government agencies, it is the time to be liberalized from their dark suits as the government here kicked off its "Super Cool Biz" campaign Monday in a bid to encourage employees to dress more casually and be more energy-conscious particularly in the workplace.
The campaign, which will run through September, was originally started 10 years ago by the Environment Ministry, with an aim to conserve energy by moderating excessive electricity use, with the main culprit being the use of air conditioners in offices peak summer months, when the mercury can rise well into the 30's.
To the outside world the stereotype of the hoards of Japanese salary man commuting to work on overcrowded trains and all being indistinguishable from each other, with their uniform-esque black suits, white shirts, nondescript ties, black leather shoes and briefcases has become pervasive.
But the ministry's Super Cool Biz campaign has added a bit more color and variety to such a monotonous scene and has been well-received by workers here.
It has made lightweight suits and pants, short sleeved and Polo shirts, and, in some instances, Hawaiian aloha shirts and lightweight sporty work shoes, standard business attire for men, and summer dresses for ladies, should employees so choose.
"My round-trip commute takes just under three hours," Tetsuya Matsufuji told Xinhua Monday. "Even in late winter and spring it' s getting hotter and more humid, especially towards rainy season, but I have to wear a full suit as it is office policy and if I take my jacket off on the train it gets creased, so I just endure the heat," the 38-year old systems engineer said.
"But in summer, with the reduced air-conditioning on the trains since the Fukushima disaster, it's a nightmare, so the Super Cool Biz campaign makes perfect sense, not just for the workplace but for the majority of us who commute from outside or from the suburbs of Tokyo to work."
Matsufuji is wearing a simple white short sleeve shirt, with a thin pin stripe, has his top button undone and is not wearing a necktie. He's wearing beige chino-style pants and couldn't look any further from the stereotype salaryman image Japan is known for. He's ditched his briefcase for a canvass messenger bag and said his summer ensemble makes him feel "free and comfortable", and provides him with a "fresh head" to keep him working hard.
Apparel retailers are certainly take advantage of the ministry' s campaign with one high street budget retailer known for providing business attire at reasonable prices, ensuring its nationwide stores are blazon with signs announcing the beginning of the dress down season. "It's quite good for us as after the April tax hike as people shopping for cooler business attire is helping us balance the books," Shunsuke Kondo, the manager of the popular chain of business apparel stores told Xinhua.
"Short sleeve shirts are flying off the racks, nothing too fancy, mainly white, but this year we're seeing an uptick in a couple of areas. Firstly, businessmen opting for light-weight chino-style pants and those, possibly in more senior positions, buying super-lightweight summer suits, but instead of a regular jackets, the pants are paired with a matching waistcoat, which still looks very formal," Kondo explains.
"Some business people just don't feel comfortable not wearing a jacket. One guy described the feeling as being 'half-naked', so the waist coat overcomes this problem rather well, I think. All the sophistication but minus the heat," said Kondo.
Such stylish solutions may be more important than mere fashion, as over the past two days, temperatures in some parts of Japan rose to as high 35 C and higher due to a high-pressure system that has covered much of the Japanese archipelago.
According to the meteorological agency in Tatebayashi in Gunma Prefecture and Ibigawa in Gifu Prefecture, the mercury peaked at 36.3 C. Three lives were lost due to the heat in Japan and 100s were admitted to emergency rooms suffering from heatstroke.
In light of how debilitating and dangerous the heat can be here in summer, the store and many others like it, also offer a number of footwear alternatives to regular leather shoes, with the most popular being a fusion of a sneaker and a regular shoe -- a hybrid shoe of sorts -- that look and feel lighter and more airy, but lean more towards the formal style of dress rather than being overly-casual.
Canvass shoulder bags and tote bags are also becoming the norm, according to Kondo, who said that in summer business people don't want to lug around a heavy briefcase.
Kyoko Yamada, 26, is also grateful for the Super Cool biz campaign as for her and her female peer. For the first time her company, a major Japanese cosmetics maker, has officially said that female personnel no longer have to wear stockings to work during summer, provided they're wearing trousers, or skirts that are to the knee but not overly above.
"It's such a relief as over the years many complaints have been made to our Human Resources Department to change this rule. I hope other working women in other companies follow our lead," Yamada told Xinhua.
"I don't look any less professional, but I just feel more comfortable and perhaps will be less fatigued at work, which must be good for business," the young saleswomen said.
Yamada was wearing a white, sleeveless, knee-length A-line dress, with simple black pumps, all-be-they crocodile skin. "I carry a cardigan in my bag, for when it gets cooler in the evenings," the Chanel bag toting Yamada, who's style could be described as "office-chic", said.
In its first year alone, the Environment Ministry said the Cool Biz campaign, the original version of the super Cool Biz, resulted in a 460,000-ton reduction in CO2 emissions. This is the equivalent to the power used by around 1 million households in a single month. The ministry said in 2006 the carbon dioxide emission reduction had doubled thanks to the Cool Biz initiative.
But it has been the Super Cool Biz campaign that has really seen social and environmental change, to the point that the initiative, which in fiscal 2011 reduced Japan's carbon emissions by 1.56 million tons, has and continues to be one of the government's most impactful environmental success stories to date.
