Sales of "Green curtain" gardening kits are surging, shoppers are buying clothes designed to help them stay cool and a pizzeria owner is losing weight as Tokyo residents brace for a summer with less air conditioning.
Sales of gear to grow "goya" gourd vines that provide shade for buildings have jumped ninefold this year at Rakuten Inc., the nation's largest online retailer.
Hitachi Ltd., the country's second-biggest private employer, is draping factories with the bitter gourd plants and handing out seeds to employees for use at home, a step electronic components maker Kyocera Corp. is also taking.