Lee Kuan Yew, founder of modern Singapore: "Air conditioning was a most important invention for us, perhaps one of the signal inventions of history. It changed the nature of civilization by making development possible in the tropics. Without air conditioning you can work only in the cool early-morning hours or at dusk. The first thing I did upon becoming prime minister was to install air conditioners in buildings where the civil service worked. This was key to public efficiency."
Japan isn't really ahead of Singapore in this regard due to its position much further north. The heat in Singapore is unbearable inside a building without a/c during the day. Putting on a casual shirt will hardly help in that situation.
I wish we had that rule. My last 3 jobs have been in historical buildings. One didn't have AC, and the other two have barely had functional AC.
My desk reaches about 80 degrees once the weather is over 65, and it won't drop below that until the fall. In order to make our AC more efficient they "weather sealed" the windows, which mostly involved gluing them shut. So now I can't open the window when it's cooler outside.
I'm sitting at my desk with my sleeves and pant legs rolled up like a five year old pretending to be a pirate. Most of the women don't mind because they can wear light dresses and slip on shoes.
The did give me a fan after I asked HR if I could wear women's clothing to work.
But seriously, it's kind of ridiculous to be paying to cool a place to a certain temperature when literally nobody in the office has any reason to be dressed up.
That article was far more sensible and pertinent than I was expecting. Especially relevant, given the fact that a couple weeks ago one of my coworkers was wearing a jacket while I was sweating though my clothes.
Our handbook is pretty terrible to both sexes though. There's two full pages on how women should do their makeup. It can basically be summed up as "You need to wear makeup, but don't look like a whore." So, at least I don't have to deal with that.
Honestly, I wouldn't complain if it didn't affect my work, but when it gets this hot I get dizzy unless I drink water like it is going out of style, which means I have to get up to fill my water and relieve myself. And even then I can barely concentrate.
I still blame the dress code more than anything. I'm comfortable to above 90 degrees or so if I'm wearing shorts and a lightweight tee. Slacks, leather shoes and a long sleeve shirt are not suitable much above 75 as far as I'm concerned.
I am not comfortable in temperatures above 80 in any clothing bar undergarments, especially not if you want me to be productive cognitively in any way.
And if you add humidity on top of that, it essentially reduces me to a vegetable, unable to do anything but take short naps and cold showers every few hours.
I definitely feel that way if I'm in the sun with no breeze. I'm pretty tall and lanky though, and I sweat a lot, so I think the two of those things together combine to keep me fairly cool.
Being hot is definitely tiring though. I'm pretty sure I use a ton of energy just sitting around sweating, and if I have to walk anywhere in that weather I'll just want to take a nap when I get there.
South Korea started following the same policy a few years ago. The thermostat is set at 28C in most offices, and people care less than they did before about men wearing short sleeves and no ties.
One problem is that Seoul is further north than Tokyo, so the temperature tends to stay around 28C anyway, especially during the monsoon between mid-June and mid-July. Thermostats only detect temperature, not humidity. So the A/C sits idle and everything gets damp :(
https://www.vox.com/2015/3/23/8278085/singapore-lee-kuan-yew...