日本上班族流行海滩花衬衫

STEVE INSKEEP, host: And let's travel next to Japan, which has been struggling with power shortages since the earthquake and tsunami that crippled the Fukushima nuclear plant. To save electricity, the government is doing things like making employees in Tokyo start work and hour early. Another ambitious government scheme might just lead to a revolution in Japanese office wear, as NPR's Louisa Lim found out on a recent visit to Tokyo.

Unidentified Woman: (Japanese language spoken)

LOUISA LIM: Here in Japan's Environment Ministry, the elevators are still talking, but only half of them are working. The corridors are murkily dark, with overhead lights switched off to save electricity. The air conditioning is off, the windows open, both unusual in Japanese offices.

The atmosphere in the office is almost preppy. It's full of fresh-faced young people in polo shirts, Crocs and even the odd Hawaiian shirt. Welcome to the birthplace of Super Cool Biz.

Mr. MASAHIRO SATO (Deputy Director, Quality-of-Life Policy Bureau, Ministry of Environment): No necktie, okay. No jacket, okay.

LIM: Masahiro Sato is the father of Super Cool Biz. He’s talking me through the rules of this sartorial revolution: no neckties, no jackets, yes to polo shirts, yes to Hawaiian shirts, yes to sandals, but no flip-flops. This, it’s hoped, will be the new summer dress code of Japans salary men, designed to help the country through this year’s power crunch.

Masahiro Sato lays out the thinking.

Mr. SATO: (Through Translator) We are limiting air conditioners to 82 degrees to save energy. So we have to loosen up clothing guidelines so people can be more comfy. As a target, were looking at saving 10 percent of our office electricity expenditure.

LIM: So Koji Nakamura has got the best shirt in the office. It’s kind of brown, with squares, and black and blue and turquoise. He’s just pointed out his socks, as well. He’s wearing bright pink socks. So before Super Cool Biz, for example, if you wore this shirt to work last year, what would people have said?

Mr. KOJI NAKAMURA (Salary man): Maybe I’ll get fired.

LIM: So he’s saying that before now, if you worn a Hawaiian shirt to work, in a government ministry, you might even have got fired. In fact, nobody even knows, because it just wasn’t the done thing to do.

I’m now come to a swanky department store in Ginza and I want to see whether this Super Cool Biz campaign is really making a dent on the sales of Hawaiian shirts. I’ve just been talking to a very nice salesman. And he tells me that it is making a difference.

Mr. RYUSAKU NOGUCHI (Clothing Salesman): (Japanese language spoken)

LIM: More people have been looking at Hawaiian shirts this year, says Ryusaku Noguchi. He’s in charge of the special offers on Aloha shirts, as they’re called here. He’s hugely enthusiastic. I’d love to wear that to work, he says, as I wave a particularly bright pink-and-white flowered Hawaiian shirt at him. I’d prefer it to this, he says, tugging at his necktie.

So I’m just wondering how the famously buttoned-up Japanese will respond to the Aloha shirt challenge. So I’ve come to the equivalent of Japans Congress. I’m just standing outside the House of Representatives, and I want to know what people here think about the whole Super Cool Biz campaign.

Mr. KATSUJI KASASHIMA (Consultant): (Japanese language spoken)

LIM: Consultant Katsuji Kasashima seems horrified at the pink-and-white flowered shirt, and flinches in distaste. I’d just take off my jacket and tie, he says, flashing the label of his fancy Italian suit. We Japanese are better than you people at dealing with heat.

Mr. NAO ISAMORI (Internet Worker): (Japanese language spoken)

LIM: It’s all propaganda says internet worker, Nao Isamori, ignoring the pink and white flowers altogether. There’s not enough electricity and this just distracts us from the real issues.

Unidentified Woman: (Japanese language spoken)

LIM: So for all its common sense, Super Cool Biz could face an uphill struggle. It was launched at a glitzy fashion show depicting a world where salary men go to work in skintight black pedal-pushers.

And if that could happen, who knows, maybe the ministry’s next energy-saving target could be Japans ubiquitous heated toilet seats.

Louisa Lim, NPR News.

INSKEEP: And go to NPR.org to see Japans salary men and the pink-and-white flowery Aloha shirt.

This is NPR News.