Overview
- The Tokyo Metropolitan Government expanded its Cool Biz guidance in April 2026 to recommend shorts, T‑shirts and trainers for government and some private workers as a way to lower office cooling needs.
- Officials stress the change is voluntary and framed as giving workers more options rather than imposing a new dress code, with Tokyo environmental official Noboru Watanabe saying attire should not be offensive to others.
- The policy has produced a wider social debate over etiquette and gender norms, driven by reports of “sunehara” or “leg‑hair harassment,” a term used for discomfort at seeing male colleagues’ exposed leg hair.
- Businesses and clinics have reacted: a June Gorilla Clinic survey found opinion roughly split (53.5% opposed, 46.5% supportive), and clinic directors report rising demand for male laser hair removal while retailers and apparel makers push lighter office wear.
- The push follows an intense early‑July heatwave that strained health and power systems, with the Fire and Disaster Management Agency reporting seven heatstroke deaths and 4,580 hospital admissions from July 6 to 12, and it builds on Cool Biz’s 2005 origin as a proven energy‑saving campaign.