IN A country synonymous with the buttoned-down corporate army that keeps its huge economy humming along, getting Japan to ditch its suits is an uphill task. A summer power crunch in Tokyo, however, is forcing the government to ask the impossible.
The salary-man uniform of necktie, dark jacket and leather shoes is out. Chinos, loose Hawaiian shirts and sandals are in. Government office workers can wear T-shirts (“solid colours”), jeans (“no rips or holes”), even pedal pushers – anything that keeps power-guzzling air-conditioners and lights switched off.
Japan’s ministry of environment has kicked off the so-called “Super Cool-Biz” campaign in earnest in Tokyo. The world’s most populated metropolis is being asked to slash electricity use by 15 per cent, the prelude to an eco-revolution, promises environment minister Ryu Matsumoto. “This will not only be a temporary event this summer. It is going to change the way of life in Japan,” he said.
The capital is supplied mostly by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco), operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which was crippled by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.
Across the city, Matsumoto’s revolution is already in progress. Lifts in department stores and train stations have been switched off. Lights are dimmed in thousands of convenience stores. Colleges have brought holidays forward by a month to save power on air-conditioning in August. The University of Tokyo, among the city’s top-10 energy users, says it has shaved a huge 350,000 kilowatts of electricity a day off its daily bill.
Campaigners have targeted Japan’s five million-plus vending machines, which they say need the equivalent of at least a single nuclear reactor to keep them running. Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara has waded into the fight, singling out the country’s 12,500 “pachinko” pinball gaming parlours for special attention.
“It’s crazy that pachinko wastes so much electricity,” said Mr Ishihara, before issuing a typically blustering government threat to unplug them.
But it is air-conditioning that gets the authorities hottest under the collar. During the summer, daily temperatures in the city can hover over 30 degrees for weeks, sending cases of heat stroke soaring. A government directive has set workplace temperatures at a muggy but not unbearable 28 degrees, and recommends that millions of workers leave their suits in the wardrobe and dress appropriately. At least that’s the plan.
Getting that message across to the country’s conservative business community is proving a struggle, however. Most companies have told employees to shed the jacket and tie, but not to get carried away with Super Cool-Biz.
“We’ve been told to stay close to the suit look,” says Yukimoto Tetsushi, who works for Toshiba Corp. “No shorts, mini-skirts, or bare-shouldered tops; leather shoes, no sandals. Anything else would be rude to our customers and embarrass the company.”
The story is the same at many of the country’s top banks, security houses and blue-chip corporations. Even the environment ministry admits it “cannot predict” the energy savings from the initiative since it has no idea how it will be received. So in a bid to save more power, the ministry has another trick up its sleeve: it is considering starting the working day earlier to make the most of cooler mornings.
From next week, about 9,500 city employees will arrive at work from 7.30-9am instead of 8.30-9.40 – on a trial basis.
“Just another plot to get us up earlier in the morning,” grumbled one to Fuji TV this week. “Nothing changes.”