AFP, Tokyo

Tokyo’s metropolitan government is encouraging staff to wear shorts to work to cut reliance on air conditioning, an official said yesterday, as concerns grow over high energy costs linked to the Middle East War.

The loosened dress code is part of an upgraded version of “Cool Biz” -- an energy-saving initiative started by Japan’s environment ministry in 2005 that encouraged bureaucrats to ditch ties and jackets in summer, and saw some turn up to work in Okinawan-style collared t-shirts.

An energy crunch threatened by the Middle East war is “one of the factors” that prompted the Japanese capital to take it up a notch and start allowing its workers to don shorts this month, a Tokyo official who declined to be named told AFP.

Already, some male workers in the Tokyo government office can be seen sporting shorts and T-shirts, local media footage showed earlier this week.

Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, who herself started the Cool Biz campaign as environmental minister two decades ago, is all in.

This summer, “we encourage ‘cool’ attire that prioritises comfort, including polo shirts, T-shirts and sneakers and -- depending on job responsibilities -- shorts,” she told reporters earlier this month, citing “a severe outlook for the supply and demand of electricity”.

The new Cool Biz initiative also includes a greater shift toward teleworking and starting work early, Koike added.