Take it off
Check out the website of David Meyer (a.k.a. Papa) for some up-close and personal comments about dress codes of Japanese companies.
The more things change, the more they remain the same. Once again, Japan makes a fashion discovery thirty years behind the United States. Casual clothes are comfortable. At least this time it is a good idea we are borrowing.
Salaryman fashion is much in the news these days as the government urges businessmen to chuck their coats and ties during the muggy summer months in an effort to reduce energy (air conditioning) needs.
By the way, I have noticed recently that global warming is gradually being replaced by climate change in reports about what it is we are facing. I wonder how the government fashion gurus will deal with that one. . .
It’s a great idea, but I hope they look ahead and see what happens when it gets out of hand. Even in banks in the US, bastions of conservative dress, it’s not impossible that the guy handling your life savings will be wearing bermuda shorts and showing off his hairy, fat legs during business hours. Granted, this particular appetite reduction aid is not likely to be common in Japan, but I do like to see a bit of business dress to let me know that people take their work, and themselves, seriously.
Japan’s weather makes a necktie inappropriate, but I would hate to see them follow America, and the West, into slob-rule.
May 25th, 2005 at 4:34 pm