TOKYO’S SHORTS PUSH SPARKED ‘LEG HAIR HARASSMENT’ CLAIMS
Tokyo’s government urged office workers to wear shorts in the summer heat as part of Governor Yuriko Koike’s expanded Tokyo Cool Biz campaign, and some women said having to look at male colleagues’ leg hair amounted to “leg hair harassment.” The guidance was meant to help people cope with record heat and cut air-conditioning use, and it was a recommendation, not an order.
Koike introduced the expanded campaign in April 2026, pushing T-shirts, sneakers and shorts as acceptable work wear. By July 14, 2026, Tokyo government workers were being photographed in shorts, and the BBC laid out the fallout on July 21.
The Japan Times quoted Koike telling reporters: “We encourage ‘cool’ attire that prioritizes comfort, including polo shirts, T-shirts and sneakers” and, depending on job responsibilities, shorts.
Tokyo environmental official Noboru Watanabe told the BBC the city was not playing fashion police. “We want to give people more options in the severe heat, not tell them what to wear. There should be no issue as long as the work attire is not offensive to anyone,” he said.
The online complaint nobody saw coming
Some commentators liked the relaxed rules because they made working in the heat more bearable. Others pointed out an imbalance: some women are still expected to wear tights when showing part of their legs, while men can just pull on shorts.
Then came “sunehara,” an online term for leg hair harassment. Global News reported on the complaint, with some women saying they felt uncomfortable seeing their male colleagues’ leg hair.
Sachie Koike, a 52-year-old realtor, told The Japan Times she was fine with men skipping ties or jackets but felt shorts went too far. “I associate them with a day off,” she said, adding: “I just don’t think hairy legs look very neat.”
Some men took the hint. Dr Akifumi Funatsu, director of Gorilla Clinic, told the BBC more clients were coming in for hair removal partly as “social etiquette when wearing shorts.” He believed some women think “men should have less leg hair,” which pushed men toward laser treatment so they would not offend anyone.
What the survey found
A June survey by Gorilla Clinic found 53.5% of respondents opposed shorts at work in summer, while 46.5% supported them, Daily Sabah reported.
Qazinform said the poll was run online on June 17, 2026, among 800 men and women aged 20 to 59. Among those opposed, 45.5% cited body shape or body hair as a concern.
The leg hair effect showed up clearly in the numbers. A jacket-and-shorts outfit was considered acceptable by 58% when the model’s legs were hair-free, but only 24.1% when the leg hair was visible. Only about a third of respondents said shorts were permitted, or likely permitted, at their own workplace.
Why Tokyo did it
The campaign built on Koike’s original Cool Biz drive, which she launched in 2005 as Japan’s environment minister. Then-prime minister Junichiro Koizumi helped sell it by appearing in public without a tie or jacket. After the March 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Japan added “Super Cool Biz,” widening the energy-saving advice to work and home.
This time the backdrop was record heat and high energy prices, the BBC said. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency reported seven heatstroke deaths and 4,580 hospital transports in the week of July 6 to 12, and the Japan Meteorological Agency had coined “kokusho-bi” for brutally hot days above 40C. Fan-equipped clothing, disposable wet towels, heat-blocking umbrellas and handheld fans were selling well.
Tokyo’s headlines this year have also included a man allegedly hiding lizards in socks at a Tokyo airport, so the city was not short on strange stories.
Where things stand
Shorts stayed an option rather than a rule, and the guidance did not require every Tokyo employer to allow them. On September 1, 2026, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government published a summary of the wider campaign, covering clothing, work style and home settings.
It listed shorts, T-shirts, fan-equipped clothing and sneakers alongside telework, early shifts, air conditioning and heat acclimatization, and noted that formal occasions still call for formal attire. It also reported that a heat-control photo contest, which ran from June 26 to August 31, drew 113 entries, with about 29,000 citizens voting on 12 finalists.
The summary quoted Koike on how the dress code got here: “We’ve gradually run out of clothes to take off, and now we’ve even reached the point where we’re down to just shorts.”
