A similar campaign to Cool Biz would gain little traction in the U.S., where executives would balk at working in an 82-degree Fahrenheit (28 degrees Celsius) office. They’ll say, ’This decreases produ

Dear Prof. Hamao, are you too young to remember the oil crisis of the '70's? Perhaps USC has a library where you can check the microfilms and see the articles in these things they used to have called newspapers. The govt did indeed exhort us to turn down the heat in winter (the far biggest source of energy use in homes). Actually, hot offices DO decrease productivity, research supports it and my own experience confirms it. No one in Japan notices a difference because they normally spend 10 hrs in the office doing nothing during the day and then frantically working from 6-8pm.

1970's Oil Crisis & Conservation: "To help reduce consumption, in 1974 a national maximum speed limit of 55 mph (about 88 km/h) was imposed through the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act. Development of the United States Strategic Petroleum Reserve began in 1975, and in 1977, the cabinet-level Department of Energy was created, followed by the National Energy Act of 1978. Year-round daylight saving time was implemented from January 6, 1974 to February 23, 1975. The crisis also prompted a call for individuals and businesses to conserve energy, most notably a campaign by the Advertising Council using the tag line "Don't Be Fuelish." Many newspapers carried full-page advertisements that featured cut-outs which could be attached to light switches, reading "Last Out, Lights Out: Don't Be Fuelish.""

It DOES decrease productivity. I'm very supportive of energy saving efforts, but 28 degrees is way too high for me. My own office tends to stay between 25 and 26.

Additionally, I find in Japan that they are all totally into "saving electricity" in the summer, but the moment November comes around - whether or not it's actually cold - the heat is cranked up, and remains too strong all winter. I compensate for my AC use in the summer by not using heat in the winter. I have blankets and sweatshirts for that.

Cool biz is a bad, primitive policy anyway. Proper energy management involves monitoring and analyzing energy usage and coming up with cuts in specific areas. Japan's ham-fisted approach is from the stone age. And yes, forcing people to work in heat does cause productivity loss, lower morale, etc.

The whole thing is a Wa-building exercise.

I'd be interested to see scientific evidence regarding actual physical differences in high and low temperature comfort and tolerance levels between different cultures or races. It does seem that there is a difference between male and female comfort levels. I always prefer it to be cooler than my (Japanese) wife likes in both winter and summer and others I talk to all say the same thing with men generally preferring a cooler temperature than women (regardless of race.) It has always seemed to me that the Japanese can tolerate much hotter temps than I can (caucasian from the USA) -when before "cool biz" started, I would often see salarymen in the middle of the Japanese summer, standing calmly with a full, 3 piece suit, & long sleeve shirt with necktie, not even breaking a sweat after running to catch the train. I had always heard that the standard comfortable room temperature was between 18C and 23C, so 28 seems ridiculous to me, but my Japanese co-workers seem generally able to accept it without too much fuss. What gives?

GaijinSince74.

Not so much a physical level but getting used to the local climate(takes time).

I lived on 3 continents and adjusted to the local clime. Right now I am wearing a Jimbei and got a fan going been good enough for the last 5yrs. Haven't used an aircon in that time.

Using local food diet also helps.

I'm lucky if my office gets above 23 degrees celcius, lol. If I get direct, hot sunlight for a few days in a row my office might reach 28 if I'm lucky, but I'll just put the fan on if it gets too warm. (Air Con... in Scotland? Ha!)

I don't wear a tie to work... ^_^

"They'll say, "This decreases productivity"

And they'll be right!

One main difference that nobody's mentioned is that in Japan, the office worker thinks to himself: "It's hot, ganbarimasu!"

Whereas their American counterpart would think: "It's hot, I need to find another job. This place sucks."

Not only would they be able to find another job, assuming they knew what they were doing, but when they told the new hiring manager their reason for quitting, he or she would totally agree with them.