Tokyo Blog: Cool Biz for the Boyz

At 12 noon in Tokyo, the streets are flooded by men in suits. Office workers, as the locals call them, are what we'd call executives, and they wear suits every day to work--and look totally dapper, if you ask me. This daily uniform is all well in good for most of the year, but during the wet, hot, Tokyo summers they can be quite stifling. This, in turn, causes them to turn down the AC to very low levels, causing more consumption and higher energy bills which (unlike our government!) the Japanese government considers bad. To solve this problem, the government came up with last summer's "Cool Biz" campaign, to promote office workers wearing lighter clothing in the summer--lighter level suits and shorter sleeve shirts. The campaign is changing the face of Japanese men's fashion, (and acting as a major boon for the department stores!). Here's a shot of the newspaper AD. I love the different designations - For Desk Work, For Business Man, For Manager. Suits that fit your job.