＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
１．Movement of banks to liberalize their dress code
（１）Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation
As part of its “reform of work styles,” Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) has announced that it will allow employees to work in light clothing such as T-shirts and jeans only during the summer months.
The policy applies to approximately 3,500 employees at the bank’s head office (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo), including those in the general affairs and market divisions who have no contact with customers, and is limited to the summer months of July and August. Employees are free to choose their own attire, such as polo shirts and chinos, and sneakers are also allowed. The program is part of a reform of the way they work and aims to create a relaxed working environment.
Incidentally, Rohto, Asahi Soft Drinks, and Nippon Life Insurance have already recommended “sneaker commuting” since 2018.
<8/27/2019 addendum>
According to a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, as a result of the trial in July and August, the bank received many requests to continue the program, so starting in September, the bank will expand the number of eligible employees to 6,800 employees working at the head office and allow them to wear free dress throughout the year.
（２）Shizuoka Bank
According to a Shizuoka Shimbun report on 7/20/2019, “Shizuoka Bank has revised its internal dress code, which requires both men and women to wear suits, and will allow employees to freely choose their attire according to business situations starting August 1 this year.
This is part of the “Work Style Innovation” program, a bank-wide initiative to reform the way people work. Shizuoka Bank is the first bank to decide to allow employees, including those at sales branches, to dress freely.
According to the newly formulated guidelines, rough patterned T-shirts and damaged jeans are only minimally prohibited. However, suits are required for important meetings with business partners.
I would like to commend this as an attempt to go one step further from the “Cool Biz” that now seems to have taken root.
２．From Formalism to Liberalism
Compared to Europe and the United States, Japan has tended to be rigidly formalistic in its dress. Even during Japan’s hot and humid summers, businessmen used to wear “suits and ties” for a long time before 2005, when the “Cool Biz” campaign (first called the “No Necktie, No Jacket” campaign) began.
Now that 14 years have passed, “Cool Biz” seems to have taken root among government offices and companies, but when I look at the attire of male and female college students seeking employment, they all wear black “recruit suits”. When they are walking outside, it is indeed hot, so some of them take them off and hold them in their hands…
After all, it seems that the “dress code” of “wearing a neat black suit” is still firmly in place when “interviewing” for a “company visit”.
３．While the liberalization of clothing is fine, it is also important to improve and enhance customer-first services
However, I am concerned that the trend toward the liberalization of clothing is merely a “performance” and that it may be neglecting the important “improvement and enhancement of customer-first services”.
Recently, there was a case of “improper sales” of 180,000 cases at Japan Post Insurance caused by “excessive quotas.” I hope that companies will be very careful not to fall into this kind of “profit supremacy” with “disregard for customers.
