Job Hunting Suit

I'd like to focus on one part of this list though, and that is suits. Recently there has been some controversy about this and a lot of raging has occurred on the Japanese internets.

It all started with an article in the "Weekly Toyo Keizai" titled "Choose a black suit for shuukatsu job hunting! – Do not try to stand out with clothes". This was published on October 28, 2014. According to the article, 90% of recruits wear black suits so it suggests that other applicants should follow the majority to be safe. As an example, they compared the reactions of what an interviewer might think if you wore a "unique" striped suit versus a normal black one:

What would an interviewer think if you wore a stripe designed suit for an interview? The reaction of the interviewer will be one of three types.

1. They'll evaluate it as a positive, as in "a striped suit is better because it's different from others."
2. They are not interested in a graduate's clothes, so they don't take it for a positive or a negative.
3. They evaluate it as a negative, as in "he/she doesn't know manners, wearing a striped suit for a job interview is too flashy to make a good impression."

We don't know which reaction is likely because we haven't researched it, but let's assume that each case has equal possibility – a three in one chance. In that case, if you wear a black simple suit to an interview, the interviewer wouldn't react in any particular way since most applicants wear a black plain suit anyways. It's neither positive or negative, but neutral, so it can be said there is no risk if you choose a black suit.

However, if you wear a striped suit to an interview, an interviewer could get a negative impression of you one-third of the time. It's quite a big difference, isn't it? You don't need to take any risks intentionally. Instead of standing out by appearance, you should try standing out by who you are and impress the interviewers with what you say.

What's the point of this article? A country where recruits wear "uniforms". I deliberately want to say that this is a worthless and pointless article. It's stupid. Adults who do or say such things are just idiots (regarding "choose black suits for shuukatsu job hunting!"). – @kenichiromogi

There are a lot of meaningless rules for appearances in Japan – @ys1dream

This article is really stupid, isn't it? Is it saying not to demonstrate personality? When I was job-hunting, it took me a while to get a job offer. I ended up hating both the look and wear of my suit and went to an interview in jeans and a jacket with a pair of sneakers in the end… then I got an offer. Wearing casual clothes makes you relaxed, so I recommend it." - @mii_sang3791

I think it's correct not to join a company which decides who to hire only by the color of their suits. - @mizutamabeat

Shoji Kokami, a Japanese playwright, director, and filmmaker, agreed to Mr. Mogi's tweet and stated his opinion in three tweets.

For example, imagine if there was a child who doesn't want to use a satchel and his/her parents persuaded/begged/commanded/encouraged the child to use it. In that case, I respect parents who can tell their child not "you won't be bullied if you use the satchel" but "this country doesn't allow diversity, but hopefully it will change when you will become adult." I never ever want to be a person who confidently tells a child "when you graduate from university, you will have to wear a recruit suit, which is a satchel for adults, or else you won't be accepted. It's all for your benefit." Instead, I want to be someone who can talk about my true feelings about the recruit suit – containing opinions about both those who agree with the black suit and those who are not comfortable with it. That would be a steady step, though it's a small step, to reduce this country's stuffiness and light a fire of hope. I think an adult who can do such things is a wonderful adult. - @KOKAMIShoji

Of course, there were counterarguments to the counterarguments. Things are really getting heated! All just for the color of a suit!

Freelance writer Tomohiro Akagi wrote a blog post with his opinion. Aft first he took it for granted that there are people who feel uncomfortable or question if using black suits is the right thing to do after reading Toyo Keizai's original article. He said that if a recruit asked him what was best to wear for a job interview, he would tell them to choose a black suit because the purpose of job-hunting is not to wear a colorful suit but to obtain a job offer. If there is a risk in wearing a unique colored suit, then the best advice certainly would be to follow the majority. After making these introductory remarks, he took up the main subject, which is "where do Mr. Mogi and the others' angers come from?"

Akagi assumed that they got upset with the fact that an individual person with their own personality is treated in a uniform manner because they grew up in the period when people made a strong appeal not to wear school uniforms but to wear whatever they like in their school days. He concluded that their opinion comes from believing that accepting a variety of clothes equals accepting a variety of personalities.

Then he pointed out that graduates who were currently job-hunting were very used to wearing school uniforms so they know how to take advantage of it. Especially "high school girls", who have become a sort of icon, which means they benefit from a consumer society, which equals having their value recognized by society. Because of that, they don't have any doubts about wearing the same black suit like everybody else. This means that the "worthlessness" or "stuffiness" that Mr. Mogi and the others insist on only exists in their own generation and there is a high possibility that such ideas don't exist at all among the current recruits.

In that way, it clears up why I doubted their anger. I guess whoever feels worthless or stuffy from the sight of all applicants wearing black suits are only Mr. Mogi or Mr. Kokami. Therefore, I think the truth of their anger is that they are using recruits as chessmen in a proxy war to fulfill their self-respect.