Isesaki authorities order staff to shave off beards and moustaches after complaints from public

This article is more than 10 years old

This article is more than 10 years old

In feudal Japan, a beard was considered a symbol of power or a declaration of belligerent intent but bureaucrats in one town could find themselves sent to the bathroom, razor in hand, for sporting even the suggestion of a five o'clock shadow.

Authorities in Isesaki, Gunma prefecture, have ordered all male employees to shave off their facial hair, and banish all thoughts of growing any, following complaints from members of the public who said they found dealing with bearded bureaucrats "unpleasant".

The ban, the first of its kind among Japanese public officials, applies to any manifestation of facial hair, from lovingly cultivated full beards to trendy goatees and designer stubble.

The only acceptable public face of Isesaki, the local government said, is a clean-shaven one. "Some citizens find bearded men unpleasant, so beards are banned," an in-house notice warned this week.

The notice acknowledges the growing popularity of facial hair among Japanese men, encouraged by sportsmen and celebrities, but insists that "public servants should look like public servants".

The ban was introduced this week to coincide with the start of Cool Biz, a summer campaign now in its sixth year that allows male staff to work without jackets and ties to cut down on air-conditioning and help tackle climate change.

The Isesaki ban is reminiscent of the strict rules on physical appearance enforced by conservative companies in the postwar period in the belief that Japan's rise to economic superpower required absolute conformity.

But this was the first time that an absence of whiskers had been enforced among civil servants, the internal affairs and communications ministry said.

Bearded Japanese men sniffed at the town government's belief that a workforce of smooth-chinned bureaucrats would "improve decorum".

"I am designing beards for my customers that are considered acceptable in the company workplace," Minoru Fujii, a member of Hige [beard] Club, a Tokyo beard advocacy group comprising mainly barbers, told Kyodo News. He added that there was little he could do to help the put-upon penpushers of Isesaki.