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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(zhì)地的衣服，在華氏90度（約32攝氏度）的高溫下?lián)]汗如雨。他們就是工薪一族，日本經(jīng)濟(jì)迅猛發(fā)展的支柱。但是，對(duì)他們來講，夏天遠(yuǎn)不是舒適享受的時(shí)候，而是酷熱難耐的季節(jié)。
從六月到九月，整個(gè)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?yàn)檫@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(wù)服飾禮儀已經(jīng)有150年的歷史，還從來沒有遇到大的挑戰(zhàn)。
本周，日本政府啟動(dòng)了一項(xiàng)野心勃勃的計(jì)劃，旨在重塑日本商務(wù)人士的形象。這項(xiàng)計(jì)劃由服裝設(shè)計(jì)師、著名商場及大企業(yè)的首腦們共同發(fā)起，并由日本首相小泉純一郎親自掛帥領(lǐng)導(dǎo)。
此項(xiàng)計(jì)劃的英文名稱是Cool Biz
(清涼商務(wù))。發(fā)起此項(xiàng)計(jì)劃的原因既簡單又嚴(yán)肅。1997年，聯(lián)合國氣候大會(huì)在日本京都召開，會(huì)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(chǔ)上減少6％。而直到現(xiàn)在日本還遠(yuǎn)未能實(shí)現(xiàn)其降低破壞臭氧層氣體的排放量的既定目標(biāo)。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(shù)都來自空調(diào)。在天氣炎熱的月份，空調(diào)都在隆隆的運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)。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(diào)的溫度設(shè)定在攝氏28度（華氏82.4度）。這個(gè)溫度略高于東京八月份的平均氣溫，會(huì)讓那些穿西服打領(lǐng)帶的人感到難以忍受。這樣空調(diào)很少能發(fā)揮作用，因此日本政府提起了“清涼商務(wù)”的計(jì)劃，勸說上班族們解下領(lǐng)帶、松開扣子、脫掉夾克。
日本著名的服裝設(shè)計(jì)師小條弘子說：“要想改變?nèi)毡灸腥?，那真是太難了。這是一項(xiàng)很有挑戰(zhàn)性的工作。”應(yīng)政府的要求，她已經(jīng)設(shè)計(jì)了幾款涼爽的男士服裝。
在日本，除了在非常年輕的時(shí)裝及網(wǎng)絡(luò)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(tǒng)服裝的衣袖自肘部剪下，以節(jié)省能源，結(jié)果證明此建議愚蠢之至，因?yàn)槿绱艘粊恚路拖袷浅源椎那槿税l(fā)了瘋，也成為人們大肆嘲弄的對(duì)象。羽田孜因此聲名狼藉。
日本辦公室中嚴(yán)格的等級(jí)制度是實(shí)施此項(xiàng)計(jì)劃的最大的障礙，因?yàn)閷?duì)大多數(shù)工薪族來講，如果事先未征得老板的同意就貿(mào)然進(jìn)行革新，其后果是難以想象的。
（中國日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)站譯） |
Updated: 2005-05-25 10:05
