May 30, 2011 From boiler suits to business suits, uniforms aren’t about conformity

In the photos of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s recent visit to
disaster stricken Minamisanriku, Miyagi Prefecture, where she has her
arm around the mayor, Jin Sato, I couldn’t help noting the contrast
between her black trouser suit and high heeled boots and the mayor’s
overalls, trainers and baseball cap.

Each, in their way, was wearing a uniform. She had to pick something
that was formal enough for a prime minister, subdued and respectful,
but which would not look ridiculous as she picked her way through the
rubble. The mayor is still wearing the kind of manual worker’s boiler
suit that was donned by Prime Minister Naoto Kan, government and TEPCO
officials and various company presidents in the immediate aftermath of
the March 11 earthquake. Kan has since reverted to a business suit, as
have most of the company presidents.

The messages they are giving are clear – Kan and the company
presidents are signalling that the immediate emergency and relief work
which they were rolling their sleeves up to supervise is now over, and
they must get back to formulating the longer term policies for recovery.
The mayor is signalling that that there is still much immediate
recovery work left to do and that, for his town, the threat of further
crises has not yet receded.

Japan is famous for having strict uniforms for every occasion.
Perhaps you don’t see quite as many white gloved taxi drivers and
certainly far fewer office ladies in waistcoats, skirts and ribbon ties
than in previous decades, but despite the best efforts of Japan’s
teenage students, uniforms are prevalent and mostly worn neatly and with
pride – even for personal hobbies such as hiking. The easy explanation
is to say this shows how conformist and group oriented Japanese people
are. Or in the case of company presidents, one could say that they are
trying to show they are not putting themselves above the other
employees.

Actually , having worn a traditional sailor uniform to a Japanese
school for several years myself, I think that the Japanese attitude to
clothes and uniforms is a lot more nuanced than simply being about
conformity or egalitarianism. It is as much about the message you are
sending to yourself as to others. By putting on overalls, trainers and a
baseball cap in the morning, the mayor is readying himself for action.
The ritual of dressing puts the person in the right frame of mind for
the day ahead.

It’s related to the traditional way to learn in Japan, from the
outside in or “minitsukeru” – which literally means “sticking onto the
flesh”. By getting the externals right, the internal settings will
adjust accordingly, until the action becomes instinctive.
It’s not about conforming, rather it is about accepting that we have
many identities, and that sometimes wearing the correct clothes helps us
fulfil those identities better or facilitates the switch from one
identity to the other. It also signals the seriousness of our intent to
others.