With Tokyo daytime temperatures in their 30’s, working is becoming a drag. Especially going out. There is obviously a relationship between temperature and productivity. This study from the Cornel University suggests that in the winter raising the temperature to a more comfortable thermal zone saves employers about $2 per worker, per hour. And this study by Olli Seppanen concludes that an average of 2% decrement in work performance per degree Celsius temperature, rise when the temperature is above 25°C. The problem really with air conditioned indoor spaces is to find a proper temperature balance, as there is a difference between perceived temperature versus actual temperature. Someone coming from outside might perceive an indoor space rather cold while someone already in the space might find the space rather hot. In addition to the heat, the “Cool Biz” campaign by the Japanese Ministry of Environment aimed at getting people to remove their neckties and jackets, seems according to this article in Japan Today to have another effect:

Each week at a section on its website called “aspara club,” the Asahi Shimbun polls some 8,000 registered “be monitors.” The results then appear each Saturday in the print edition’s supplement, in a department called “be between.”

“The question for the July 26 edition was, “Do you feel women’s summer garb is too extreme?” Of the 4,361 valid responses, 80% replied in the affirmative. Of these, nearly equal numbers objected to flashing of too much skin (2,189 responses) and allowing undergarments or navel to be exposed (2,011 responses).

Asked which garments were unsuitable to be worn at the workplace, 3,320 respondents named camisoles””which originally functioned as an undergarment.

“Seeing women nonchalantly wearing something that looks like underwear is really unpleasant,” a 67-year-old Tokyoite tells Asahi.”

Is Japan’s flirt with recession merely a side effect of the high temperatures?