Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Cooler than Cool Biz: Super Cool Biz

Sandra Barron's latest piece in Japan Pulse gives the lowdown on local setsuden (energy-saving) measures that, she writes, are at once an attempt to stave off power reductions and a taste of what they would entail.

One example: employees of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's Ministry of Environment will be permitted to wear jeans (without rips or holes), T-shirts (solid colors only) and Hawaiian shirts to work as part of its own campaign, which kicks off June 1 and aims to reduce peak usage during summer by 15%. Hopefully private companies to follow its lead (Tokyo and the rest of the Kanto region is serviced by TEPCO).

"Where last year the most that a hot-under-the-collar salaryman could get away with was ditching the coat and tie, this year he can lose the collar altogether," Barron writes.

I hope for my husband's sake that his employer is similarly inspired to at least allow the T-shirts, if not the cabana-wear. He can always try the Tsumetai backpack, from AnzenYouhin.jp, as seen in TimeOutTokyo (yes those are ice packs and I believe they're meant to be positioned between your shoulder blades):

There's also a USB necktie cooler from Thanko -- an awful looking tie with fan hidden behind the knot. Only 3,000 yen!

4 comments:

goemon said...

I'm considering the refrigerated underwear I started seeing last summer. (No, it wasn't a heat-induced mirage; they're real.)

Terry B said...

I've tried the ice packs, although not in that contraption! While it was somewhat refreshing, it didn't stop me from being soaked through by the time I got to the subway. At least in years past, I could cool down on the subway itself. Not this year, as Metro thermostats will be set to a balmy 28 degrees...

Sandra said...

Hey, thanks! What a nice surprise while scrolling through.

Maryanne said...

Just received this email message from a newly acquired reader: "I've instituted Super Cool Biz at my company. Now I can threaten people that either they adopt super cool biz or I'm going to make them wear cooling underwear." Love it.