The sight of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in an open-collar shirt was much more familiar this month than in June, when the government kicked off the "Cool Biz" casual-dress campaign for reducing air-conditioner use.
The four-month-old, no-tie drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ends Friday, and seems at least to have been more popular than its previous effort in 1979, when people were urged to wear short-sleeved suits and adopt the "sho-ene" (energy-saving) look.
"We believe the campaign this year saw major success, and hope to promote the effort again next year," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said earlier this week.