When Tokyo Metropolitan Government worker Toru Suda showed up for work in a polo shirt, shorts and sneakers on a sweltering July morning, he was not making a statement.
As Japan braces for another scorching summer, the Tokyo government is encouraging its staff to ditch jackets and ties in favor of shorts, T-shirts and sneakers under the "Tokyo Cool Biz" campaign, aimed at helping staff cope with increasingly severe summer heat and reduce energy costs.
"At first it felt a little strange," said Suda, the 34-year-old public servant in his light blue polo shirt and knee-length navy shorts.
But the sense of awkwardness gradually faded as more colleagues around him started dressing casually, he said at his office in central Tokyo on Tuesday, when temperatures in the capital climbed to around 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) with an average humidity of 72%.
Japan is bracing for another hot summer after enduring the hottest summer on record last year, when average nationwide temperatures were 2.36 degrees Celsius above average for summer, and heatstroke sent more than 100,000 people to hospital. On Wednesday, the Japan Meteorological Agency and the Ministry of Environment jointly issued heatstroke alerts for the capital, the first this summer, urging people to limit outdoor activities and use air conditioning.
