When I was in Tokyo this week, I spent quite some time in the trains and subways there. Whether it’s a bus, a train, a subway… any type of public transport in Japan is covered in advertisements. They are placed above the windows, next to the windows, hang from the ceilings across the aisles, and I am sure the only reason they do not cover the floors is that public transport is popular and usually crowded. Most ads come als old-fashioned posters (these days often with QR codes for them ubiquitous smartphones), but in Tokyo’s subways there are video displays above the doors announcing the stops – and in between the stops, they show little clips – advertisements, of course. Sometimes, however, we get something with a more educational value though…
With great interest I watched a little comic that went like this: A young woman with long hair sits in front of a computer, typing away. The hair eventually falls into her eyes and she brushes it back. The second time she has to do it, she flips it back more violently, her boss, who stands right behind her, gets the whole load smack into his face. Afterwards, we get to see a little instruction of how to tie your hair up and out of the way, and the clip finally concludes with a row of woman happily typing away, undisturbed, and a boss, obviously equally happy about all that increased productivity.
So far, so good, but for somebody not educated in proper office lady etiquette, it does raise a few questions:
- Why are only women targeted? Surely, there are men with long hair too. I do admit that they won’t be working as typists though…
- It’s all about productivity, right? Pity I did not get to see that clip where the chaps are invited to take fewer smoking breaks…
- Why is a woman’s hairstyle anybody’s business? As long as she adequately, professionally dressed for the job at hand and gets it done at the end of day…
- If my boss stands so closely behind me to get my hair into his face when I move – he may consider himself lucky I don’t wear extensions with steel reinforcements…
I am glad I don’t have these type of problems. Even if I was an office lady in Japan, I have had a short haircut ever since I moved to Asia for the first time. And it seems to get shorter every year. The only thing I regret about this is that now I need to have it cut more often…