Japanese Necktie Industry Wants to Kill the Earth

The Japanese government has launched a "no jacket, no tie" campaign, the idea being that shedding excess fabric in the workplace will keep air conditioning to a minimum. The "Cool Biz" campaign is being billed as painless and earth-friendly. The tie lobby, however, is livid:

But necktie makers said Thursday they fear the new dress code could cost them up to 30 percent of their annual sales.

"We are not opposing the Cool Biz itself. Dressing cool is fine," said Tetsuo Yamada, a spokesperson for the Federation of Japanese Necktie Unions. "The problem is the slogan that discriminates against neckties."

How to calculate the damage done by government-sponsored dress codes? A government-sponsored study is in the works.

Comments

[Jeff]

Two words: Naked Fridays.

[Adam]

Where's the outrage from the jacket industry?

[sage]

C'mon you, dishonor your family and wear those boxers OUTSIDE your pants. All your neckties is are balong to us.

[Jeff]

I've always been opposed to ties. They were originally designed to conceal the buttons on a man's shirt, a glimpse of which was considered indecent at the time, and scandalous enough to cause proper ladies to swoon and faint.
If anything, ties should be tucked into the back of pants and allowed to hang. This would be a tribute to the tails of our primate ancestors.

Also, unused ties can be donated to Steven Tyler for use on his microphone stand.

[David]

Two words: Naked Fridays. Could work in an office of 20-something gymrats, but not in mine.

[Rodney]

Two words: Freedom Ties

[Brian]

Ties are stupid. We should switch back to powdered wigs as a class signifier. As a bonus this would also rid us of comb-overs.

[keith]

I have often mourned that there weren't nearly enough mincing fops with opera glasses in my office. They're so much more interesting than IT guys with cell phones and BlackBerries clipped to their belts.

[Serafina]

Overairconditioning is the bane of my existence in the summer. Letting workers dress for the season makes much better sense than willy-nilly requiring suits and ties. Let the tie manufacturers go the way of buggy whip makers, or, heaven forfend, innovate and come up with something new.

Happily, I'm self-employed, so most days I can wear whatever I want, be it my rhinestone tiara and a silk kimono or the first thing I find on the floor in the morning.

[grylliade]

Let the tie manufacturers go the way of buggy whip makers, or, heaven forfend, innovate and come up with something new.

Well, I'd agree, if cultural tastes moved away from ties as dressy clothing. But if it's government-mandated, that's wrong. Why innovate if most people are perfectly happy with ties? I for one am starting to enjoy dressing up more. I've been T-shirts and jeans for most of my life (helps being a professional student, essentially); now I like wearing slacks, button-up shirts, and ties. It just looks nice. Suits are still a bit much, if only because I don't have money for one. But ties are nice.

[Jeff]

I am so going to start a band called the Mincing Fops.

[Jeff]

Not to be confused with the metal band Upper Crust.
http://www.juvalamu.com/crust/

[Jeff]

I also eagerly await the return of Nehru jackets.

[Jennifer]

Grylliade-
I read an article about "Cool Biz" a couple of weeks ago; I think it was in the BBC. The problem, as they described it, is that air-conditioning pumps heat out of your building and into the surrounding air, which in turn means your next-door neighbor needs to turn up his AC, and so forth. In the article I read, it said that this whole thing started because the number of "tropical nights" in Tokyo--meaning nights where the temperature was over 90 degrees--was something like 75 last year, compared to about 10 fifty years ago. So while the government has no business telling people how to dress, I CAN see where the government could have the right to tell people to stop keeping their AC so high, because that is in fact affecting other people.

Jeff-
Don't even think about wearing a Nehru jacket.

[Jennifer]

Whoops. Did a quick Google--it's when the night-time temperature doesn't drop below 77, not 90. Still pretty damned hot, though.

[Jeff]

Nehru jackets ROCK. Remember the recently deceased Ed Bishop on the show UFO? He looked great in a Nehru jacket, as did Derek Flint and Peter Sellers character in The Party.

I also want a fez.

[Mo]

Jeff,
I have a couple of extra fezes (seriously). They're authentic from Egypt and everything.

[Jennifer]

Mo-
Don't you DARE.

[NoStar]

Pardon me Jeff, but are you auditioning drummers for The Mincing Fops?

[Mo]

Jennifer,
You did the worst possible thing to prevent Jeff from fezdom. You ordered me not to send it. As a former teacher, you should know that's a surefire way to not be listened to. Especially to a libertarian that has no qualms with civil disobediance.

[Mo]

NoStar,
I may have an extra fez for you as well. The bouncing tassel is perfect for a drummer.

[Jennifer]

Mo-
This isn't exactly a threat or anything, but I just want to say that Hell hath no fury like a woman whose boyfriend wears a fez.

[Jennifer]

By the way, I AM still interested in the libertarian take on this topic. Not the government-mandated dress code; that's just wrong. But should the government have the right to say "You can't keep your AC high enough to wear winter clothes in the summertime," when it HAS been shown that this overuse of AC really is affecting your neighbors?

[Thomas Paine's Goiter]

I also eagerly await the return of Nehru jackets.

YES! If you know someone that can make this happen, I urge you to do everything in your power to help this along.

[Ayatollah Usoe]

Our office went casual within the last two weeks. Prior to that males were forced to wear suits. Females had pretty much gone casual years ago.

When I had to wear the tie, I'd chose one's that made management wish they didn't require ties: Dilbert? ties, decorative shotgun shells, Wild Tie's Toe Tag tie, one with thousands of small toilets on it, basically anything off-beat. I doubt I had anything to do with changing the policy, and I certainly expect the air temperature here to creep up now that we are more casual.

[sage]

"But should the government have the right to say "You can't keep your AC high enough to wear winter clothes in the summertime," when it HAS been shown that this overuse of AC really is affecting your neighbors?"

This sounds too much like the "sex with dogs" claim. Just because we CAN keep our house sub-zero, doesn't mean we will.

[Cgee]

Of course Jeff wants a fez.

The real question is, why would anyone want a jacket made from a deceased Indian prime minister?

[Jennifer]

Sage-
But the Japanese ARE. That's the whole problem; the ACs are supercharged so that men in August wear the same clothes that they do in December.

[Serafina]

There's no government-mandated dress code (except for government employees, perhaps). The government is simply encouraging an effort to reduce the problems air conditioning is causing.

[sage]

"men in August wear the same clothes that they do in December."

You make that sound like a BAD thing, Jennifer. 😉

Do you think we should start mandating when to turn on the AC and how much? That would be a dangerous proposal to present to a government already too concerned with the private lives of its citizens. As it stands now, if people don't conserve, they can face blackouts, of the rolling or rotating variety. That only has to happen a couple of times before people start shedding layers.

[Jeff]

I got it: Jodphurs!

[zach]

it seems like a pretty sane solution to me. rather than pass a law restricting A/C use in office buildings or some shit like that, or any law for that matter, just remind people that they don't need to wear full suits when it's 95 degrees outside.

it especially makes sense considering the cultural environment... japanese hate a black sheep, so by the government sanctioning the non-wearing of ties, it becomes acceptable. or maybe that's the idea, at least.

[Chrisd]

Three words:
deconstructed linen suits

[Chrisd]

Link fixed?
HTML rusty.

[Jennifer]

There's been a 5-point-something earthquake in Southern California. Did Mo stop posting because he lost interest, or electricity?

[Ersatz Datura]

I felt that one (barely) over in Carlsbad.

Also, as far as the linen suit... my roommates are getting married and the groom will be wearing a linen suit. I'll trust he can pull off the look.

[Eric the .5b]

I have often mourned that there weren't nearly enough mincing fops with opera glasses in my office.

We need more mincing fop coders. We really do. Clients would lo-...well, clients would find them interesting.

[Eric the .5b]

But should the government have the right to say "You can't keep your AC high enough to wear winter clothes in the summertime," when it HAS been shown that this overuse of AC really is affecting your neighbors?

I don't think a jacket and tie qualify as "winter clothes". I've had more experience than I'd like with the things, and even piddly Texas winters were more than they could insulate against without a coat over them. The tie sure didn't help much.

But to answer the question...I dunno. What if the government wants you to keep your thermostat at 80 F, but you're sufficiently obese, sickly, and/or elderly that this is uncomfortable or even unhealthy? What if the guy who launched this campaign is getting a cut from the slacks-and-polos industry?

[E-Rock]

From my read in the Japanese news, it's more about the culture of the country as a whole. It's suits and ties in the office. All day. Every day.
This government change is their attempt to lead the way, not force other companies to change.

Jennifer - The way an A/C works is basically as a heat pump, moving the heat from inside to out. With the loss of energy any exchange implies.

The hotter the outside, the harder the pump must work to move the heat from inside to the outside.

I'd be dubious as to whether the heat increase to the out of doors caused by many A/C units running would be enough to cause an increase in the power required to do the cooling.

[Mo]

Oh, I lost interest. Once the topic moved away from Nehru coats and fezes, there was nothing I could contribute to the topic. 🙂 It was a rumbler, but a 5 something is nothing much really, especially when it's 60+ miles away. If it's not greater than a 6, all is well. Granted, I slept through the Northridge quake. Some of the ladies at work were pretty tense though. There have been a lot of quakes out here recently. My spidey sense is telling me that I may be getting out of Dodge just in time.

[Twba]

Jennifer,

The hot nights are a result of the urban heat island effect. A densely developed city has a tremendous mass of concrete radiating heat at night.

[Simplex]

question for 60/70 pundits:

What's the difference between a Nehru jacket and a Mao jacket?

[Jennifer]

Simplex-
I don't think Mao jackets have those collars that stick straight up.

Mo-
When are you leaving?

[kwais]

Jen,
The thing about having the government try to regulate AC output is that it would probably end up like when the government tried to regulate the size of the flush tank on the toilet. People ended up flushing two or three times and wasteing much more water. There was also a black market for illegal flush tanks.

Anyways energy wouldn't be conserved, nor would less heat be put out. It would just be another pain in the ass regulation.

[crimethink]

Once you're talking about a volume of outdoor air larger than a few cubic meters, heat generated by an air conditioner is going to be a pittance compared to the heat coming from the sun and being radiated by the ground. Otherwise I could save on heating bills by forcing my neighbors to run the AC all day during winter...

[Eric II]

I got it: Jodphurs!

Say no more: I think I can borrow one from my brother.

Seriously, this story might seem like it's about a quixotic government directive, but I take it as one more sign that Japan's heading towards some kind of political and socioeconomic tipping point. I've felt for a while that the country needs to remake itself once more, the way it did during the Meiji Restoration, and again following the end of WW2. A lot of the values and institutions that have underpinned Japan over the last 60 years, ranging from its education system to its corporate culture to its attitudes towards women to its pacifist military doctrine, have to a large degree outlived their usefulness. How well the country can handle such a transformation will determine its status as a world power in the following decades.

[free form]

Nehru jackets are totally groovy, and I am all for their return!

[kevrob]

With jodphurs, a pith helmet goes best.

Kevin