Japan in a sweat over climate change

The salarymen of Tokyo have been advised to say 'sayonara' to their suits for the next few months. With Kyoto targets to meet, it's going to be a long, hot summer in Japan.

The Japanese government has told businesses to turn down the air-conditioning because generating the necessary electricity has made it difficult for the country to cut carbon dioxide emissions. This is particularly embarrassing in the country where the Kyoto Treaty was negotiated. However, the consequences for the workers will be pretty severe, with office temperatures hitting 28 degrees Celsius.

To cope, the government suggests staff go for a new casual look at work, christened 'cool biz'. Already, prime minister Junichiro Koizumi has been leading by example, jettisoning his jacket and tie. While some may appreciate the informality, many others are apparently quite upset about it - but surely not as hot under their open collars as they will be when they begin to melt in the notoriously uncomfortable and humid summer months.

Anyone who suggests that meeting the Kyoto targets will be painless should perhaps discuss this point with a perspiring pen-pusher. How delighted will that sweaty worker be when they learn that Kyoto will, at best, postpone any temperature change by five or six years?

Japan vetoes suits in summer heat, BBC News, 1 June 2005