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Suits aren't cool enough for
Japan | |
You see them every summer morning, in the packed commuter trains and
offices of Central Tokyo: men dressed in wool and polyester, sweating in the 90F heat.
These are the salarymen, the
warriors of the Japanese economy, for whom summer is a season more to be
endured than enjoyed.
From June to September, a fug
of humidity falls across Japan, tormenting office workers dressed in
a uniform more appropriate for winter. But a salaryman in a T-shirt would
be like a samurai without his
sword, and there has been no serious challenge to Japan's business dress
code for 150 years.
This week the Japanese Government embarks on an ambitious scheme to
reinvent the appearance of the Japanese businessman. It is being pioneered
by fashion designers, famous department stores and captains of industry,
and led by Junichiro Koizumi, the Prime Minister, himself.
The idea behind the initiative - christened with the English words
"Cool Biz" - is simple and serious. Japan is lamentably behind in reaching
its targets for reduction of ozone-depleting gases, despite hosting the
1997 Kyoto Conference at which they were set. The stated goal is to reduce
1990 levels by 6 per cent by the year 2012. But in 2003, emissions were up
by 8 per cent on the base year.
Much of these come from the air-conditioning units, which thrum in
Japanese offices during the hot months. So Mr Koizumi has ordered that
from June 1 government offices should set the thermostats on their air
conditioners for 28C (82.4F) - a little more than Tokyo's average August
temperature and intolerable in a suit and tie. The air conditioning will
rarely come on, so the Government has launched Cool Biz to persuade
salarymen to take off their ties, unbutton their shirts and cast off their
jackets instead.
"Japanese men are so hard to change," says Hiroko Koshino, a
distinguished fashion designer who has devised a range of cool men's
clothes at the Government's request. "It's a very, very challenging task."
Except at the most youthful of fashion and dot-com companies, casual
Fridays never really caught on in Japan. Tsutomu Hata, a former Prime
Minister is notorious for his ill-advised energy-saving office wear,
created by simply chopping off the arms of conventional suits at the
elbow. The garments looked as if a jealous lover had run amok, and are widely held to have set back
the cause of dressing down in Japan.
The biggest obstacle is the strict hierarchy still operating in
Japanese offices - for most salarymen it is unthinkable to indulge any
innovation which has not previously been adopted by the
boss.
(Agencies) |
夏日清晨，在擁擠的通勤火車上，在東京市中心的辦公室里，你總能看見他們忙碌的身影：他們身穿毛料或滌綸質地的衣服，在華氏90度（約32攝氏度）的高溫下揮汗如雨。他們就是工薪一族，日本經濟迅猛發展的支柱。但是，對他們來講，夏天遠不是舒適享受的時候，而是酷熱難耐的季節。
從六月到九月，整個日本都籠罩在悶熱潮濕之中。這讓那些身穿制服上班的辦公室一族苦不堪言，因為這些制服更適合在冬天穿，而不是夏天。不過，如果工薪族穿著T恤上班的話，就像武士沒帶佩刀一樣別扭，何況日本的商務服飾禮儀已經有150年的歷史，還從來沒有遇到大的挑戰。
本周，日本政府啟動了一項野心勃勃的計劃，旨在重塑日本商務人士的形象。這項計劃由服裝設計師、著名商場及大企業的首腦們共同發起，并由日本首相小泉純一郎親自掛帥領導。
此項計劃的英文名稱是Cool Biz
(清涼商務)。發起此項計劃的原因既簡單又嚴肅。1997年，聯合國氣候大會在日本京都召開，會上通過了《京都議定書》。簽署《京都議定書》的國家將確保在2012年前將二氧化碳等6種溫室氣體的排放量在1990年的基礎上減少6％。而直到現在日本還遠未能實現其降低破壞臭氧層氣體的排放量的既定目標。2003年，日本氣體的排放量反而比1990年增加了8%。
這些氣體大多數都來自空調。在天氣炎熱的月份，空調都在隆隆的運轉。因此，小泉首相下令，自六月一日起，所有的政府辦公室都必須把空調的溫度設定在攝氏28度（華氏82.4度）。這個溫度略高于東京八月份的平均氣溫，會讓那些穿西服打領帶的人感到難以忍受。這樣空調很少能發揮作用，因此日本政府提起了“清涼商務”的計劃，勸說上班族們解下領帶、松開扣子、脫掉夾克。
日本著名的服裝設計師小條弘子說：“要想改變日本男人，那真是太難了。這是一項很有挑戰性的工作。”應政府的要求，她已經設計了幾款涼爽的男士服裝。
在日本，除了在非常年輕的時裝及網絡公司之外，星期五便裝日從來都沒有真正流行過。日本前首相羽田孜曾建議把傳統服裝的衣袖自肘部剪下，以節省能源，結果證明此建議愚蠢之至，因為如此一來，衣服就像是吃醋的情人發了瘋，也成為人們大肆嘲弄的對象。羽田孜因此聲名狼藉。
日本辦公室中嚴格的等級制度是實施此項計劃的最大的障礙，因為對大多數工薪族來講，如果事先未征得老板的同意就貿然進行革新，其后果是難以想象的。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2005-05-25 10:05
