I've been working for this fairly large Japanese company for the past few years. It's quite traditional in some ways, but also somewhat progressive in other ways. Anyway, long story short, the other day when I was having lunch at the company shokudo with my Japanese senpais and joshis, I was talking to one of my male joshis, a man in his 40s (whom I've talked to about fashion in the past) that I've recently been looking at hats that I can wear together with my business suit on my way to work since it's starting to get warmer.



Another joshi overheard our conversation and asked me where I was planning to wear that hat. When I replied that it would be during my commute to work in the mornings, as well as in on my own private time, I was told that I should "think very carefully" about this, because nobody at the company wears hats, so I would stand out too much if I did, and people on the train would look at me thinking I'm strange for wearing a hat. Same story for sunglasses (that was brought up by the joshi, not me). It's not a good idea to wear sunglasses because no one else at the company does, and it would once again, be seen as strange by other people. The joshi ended by saying that I could do whatever I wanted on own time, but not when I'm commuting to work.



My question here is, how exactly is it anybody's business how I dress ON MY WAY to or from work? Of course I would take off my hat when I enter the company, but I definitely consider the commute to work as part of my private time, so I should be able to dress however I like. And the argument that just because nobody else does it, I shouldn't do it either just seems silly to me. Not to mention what "others" on the train would think about me. I really couldn't care less what some strangers think of my appearance. And finally, I've always covered my face when it gets warm, especially in Japan, in order to protect my sensitive skin from the sun, so if I had the choice to choose between protecting my health, or following some illogical rule, I would choose the former without question. That's just me though, so I'm keen in hearing others' voices on this.