Posted on 07/21/2026 6:48:06 PM PDT by BenLurkin
As temperatures rise this summer, Japanese men are baring more leg at work than ever before.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is pushing company employees to ditch their usual suit and tie for more casual attire, featuring t-shirts, trainers - and shorts.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike introduced "Tokyo Cool Biz" in April, hoping to expand on her signature cool down initiative which has now become a widely recognised annual summer tradition.
Almost four months in, the newly allowed shorts in the office policy is getting mixed reviews.
Some commentators enjoy the relaxed rules, helping them work more comfortably. Others say the policy is unfair to women since they are still expected to wear tights when showing a part of their legs. And a few women describe the experience of "leg hair harassment" or a term coined online as "sunehara", referring to the discomfort of being forced to see their colleague's leg hair.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
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Hmmm...first I’ve heard of this . The women should be able to wear shorts too ! Yes sir ! But I might not get as much work done if I were in the office .
I can remember a time when men did not wear shorts to work or anywhere else but the beach. Things began to change in the late ‘80s when I first saw UPS drivers and mailmen wearing shorts while working. Now days, shorts and sandals seem to be the official uniform of Millennial men.
Whutta ‘bout “Man Spreading”?
[For ventilation?]
The Japanese are a strange people. Men reading pornography in public is perfectly fine. But showing leg hair is in poor taste.
CC
The women workers should also have relaxed clothing standards during the summertime. That’s an easy decision.
What is harder would be how to respond to women becoming
‘disturbed’ simply at the sight of leg hair on their male coworkers.
Maybe there is a deep cultural etiquette to body hair in Japan. I have no knowledge of that.
Meanwhile, Old Joe (kids-luv-my-hairylegs) Biden may want to wear long johns if he goes to Japan and swims.
“Now days, shorts and sandals seem to be the official uniform of Millennial men.”
I am 79 1/2. I wear shorts 52 weeks a year.
I’m 76 and some of the men around my age wear shorts and sandals even to church, but not me!
I spent two years in Japan, Yokota Air Base, about 25 miles east of Tokyo. The winters were cold and snowy, while the summers were hot and humid. I can totally see people wearing shorts and t-shirts in the summer.
Sushi,
My visit to Japan in the 1980s exposed me to the the young ladies that didn’t shave legs. Hoo boy. Course black hair pressed into nylons wasn’t a turn on.
I have no idea what they did with other areas. Never saw anything beyond armpits and hairy nylons.
Has anything changed since then?
I’m also a no shorts, no sandals guy, and prefer long sleeves, and have never understood the baseball hat thing, but shorts and sandals is common today, I don’t know how the shorts work out in mosquito country though.
I like practical clothes for the outdoors, shoes or boots you can move in, a shirt that you can roll up or down the sleeves, if I ever wear a hat I want it to be useful against the sun and wind.
Yabbut, the leg hair issue might get out of hand if the women join in!
Admit no idea about women’s grooming habits in Japan.
They don’t have sir conditioning?
“never understood the baseball hat thing”
-
I wear one to hide my semi-bald head.
I can see bald guys wearing them, and any other hats, it seems to me that there are plenty of very cool looking types of brimmed hats with style, that would be fun for a bald guy.
Exactly.
How odd.
“””””They don’t have sir conditioning?”””””
Is that something you get in a Vietnamese massage parlor?
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