New Delhi: With Japan sizzling under record-breaking heat, workers in Tokyo have begun to wear more casual outfits to the office — ditching the traditional suits and ties for shorts and T-shirts. But this change has not gone down well with some, particularly women workers, who say they are being forced to look at their male colleagues’ hairy legs.
This shift in office culture comes after the Tokyo government launched the ‘Tokyo Cool Biz’ campaign in April, encouraging workers to opt for casual clothes — to save energy and make working from the office more comfortable. The first such campaign was launched back in 2005 by Japan’s environment ministry to reduce the use of air conditioners in offices.
“We have gradually run out of layers to remove,” Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said at a news conference in April, “reaching a point where we are down to wearing shorts.”
Japan is known for following strict office dress codes, with most men choosing suits and ties while women preferring modest pencil skirts with high-neck blouses. Hence, the shift to shorts and sandals has drawn mixed reactions from workers.
But women employees are particularly unhappy, as hairy legs have become a common sight in Japan’s offices this summer. Some women have even coined a new term to describe their experience — ‘leg-hair harassment’ or ‘sunehara’.
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‘Unfair to women’
For Ruai Sajiki, a 23-year-old working at the Tokyo government offices, seeing a male colleague’s bare legs can be jarring for women.
“I’ve seen my own father’s legs, so I’m personally comfortable with it. It can’t be helped that there are many opinions, and some women who feel resistance,” she told The New York Times.
Some pointed out that the policy is unfair to women, who are expected to cover their legs.
Atsuko Tamada, a professor of French literature at Chubu University in Japan, argued that while women spend money on foot care and shaving their legs, men show up with their hairy legs.
“If men are now encouraged to wear shorts or sandals,” she said, “should the same standards of appearance apply to them?”
According to a survey conducted by Gorilla Clinic in June, 53.5 per cent respondents were against wearing shorts to office in summer, while 46.5 per cent supported the policy. The survey also suggested that for those opposing shorts, the biggest concern was body shape and body hair, reported BBC.