Tokyo Debates Men's Shorts as Women Call Out Leg-Hair Harassment
Tokyo's casual dress initiative to beat summer heat sparked backlash when female workers complained about male colleagues wearing shorts and exposing leg hair, creating a new term "sunehara" for leg-hair harassment in the workplace.
Tokyo is caught in an unexpected online firestorm after the local government launched a campaign encouraging employees to dress more casually during summer to cope with extreme heat and humidity. The initiative backfired when some female office workers complained that male colleagues wearing shorts and exposing leg hair made them uncomfortable at work.
The controversy gave rise to a new Japanese internet term, "sunehara" (from "sune," meaning leg hair, and "harassment"), used to describe discomfort or annoyance at having to see male coworkers' leg hair in the office.
Since April, Japan has faced intense heat and high humidity, prompting Tokyo's government to expand its Cool Biz program, which encourages employees to dress more casually—wearing t-shirts, sneakers, or shorts instead of traditional suits and ties—to mitigate the effects of rising temperatures. Noboru Watanabe, a Tokyo environment official, told the BBC that the program's goal is to expand clothing options suited to weather conditions, not to mandate any particular dress code. He emphasized that as long as clothing does not create discomfort for others, it should not be an issue. However, what counts as "inappropriate" has proven open to wide interpretation.
A June survey by Gorilla Clinic, a men's beauty clinic in Japan, found that 53.5% of respondents opposed wearing shorts to work, while 46.5% supported it. The main concerns among those opposed centered on body shape and body hair, with most respondents being women who said they were unaccustomed to seeing male coworkers expose their leg hair in the workplace.
The controversy has also affected men, with some beginning to remove their leg hair out of concern about others' gazes. Akifumi Funantsu, director of Gorilla Clinic, revealed that they have seen an increase in male customers seeking laser hair removal services. Many cite not just aesthetic reasons but describe it as a "social courtesy" when wearing shorts to work, as they do not want to make coworkers uncomfortable.
