Japan Environment Ministry Staff Advocate Cool Biz Campaign

Tokyo, May 9 (Jiji Press)--Staff members at Japan's Environment Ministry showed the press on Monday their efforts to pursue the "Cool Biz" workplace power-saving campaign. The ministry, the initiative's flag bearer, hopes that participation in the campaign by many people will help Japan to achieve the government's goal of reducing the nation's greenhouse gas emissions effectively to zero by 2050. The campaign calls on people to attend work in a more casual business attire during the hotter months, in order to allow air conditioner temperatures at offices to be set at 28 degrees Celsius, saving electricity. With the climate in Japan varying from place to place, the ministry decided not to set an across-the-board period for the campaign this year. Although it was chilly and cloudy in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki government district on Monday morning, workers at the ministry's office promoting a decarbonized lifestyle were seen wearing either polo shirts or "kariyushi" traditional short-sleeved shirts from the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa. "It's important that we turn our lives into ones that suit a decarbonized world," Masashi Iwayama, the ministry office's director, said, adding, "We hope to promote the Cool Biz campaign as part of such efforts." The campaign was originally launched in 2005. With temperatures in Tokyo usually reaching 25 degrees or over for the majority of the period between May and September, the ministry encourages its staff members to take part in the campaign during the hotter months. END