Workplace bans on beards raise hairy questions

Tuesday, June 22, 2010
By MIKI NAKANISHI
Kyodo News

MAEBASHI, Gunma Pref. — The issue of men with facial hair in the workplace has recently prompted serious discussions as well as actual bans based on "decorum."

News photo
Hairy issue: A bearded shopkeeper is given a "no" sign by a customer in an illustration addressing the issue of banning facial hair in the workplace. TARO ARAI ILLUSTRATION / KYODO

In May, the city of Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture, banned all male municipal employees from sporting beards in the office on the grounds that public servants should look decent. The city took the action after some residents complained about its bearded workers.

In response to the news, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said it had never heard of any municipality introducing such a rule.

Isesaki's move, however, is nothing new. A growing number of Japanese, including athletes, are being prohibited from turning up for work unshaven so they won't "offend" the public.

Seven-Eleven Japan Co. is particularly strict about the appearance of its employees and says it won't hire men with beards.

"We might fire workers growing beards regardless of whether they are regular staff or part-time workers," a public relations official said.

Oriental Land Co., owner of the Tokyo Disney Resort, also bans beards, like its U.S. counterpart.

"It's important that workers serving our guests maintain an immaculate image," an official said. "But the rule doesn't apply to the man playing the role of Captain Hook in our park."

The manufacturing arm of razor maker Kai Corp. tests the quality of its products almost every month on its male workers. They grow facial hair until the monthly test date arrives and get back to work cleanshaven after the tests.

Some men take issue with the bans.

An employee of Japan Post Service Co. sued the firm to protest a pay cut imposed because of his beard.

In March, the Kobe District Court ordered the company to pay him ¥370,000 on grounds that a person's appearance is a matter of personal freedom and a uniform ban on beards is unreasonable.

In sports, the Yomiuri Giants baseball club is well known for its ban on beards. When he left the Nippon Ham Fighters for the Giants in December 2006, infielder Michihiro Ogasawara made his fans gasp by shaving his trademark beard.

The baseball star said abiding by his team's rules was a matter of manhood.

No regulations exist regarding facial hair in the world of sumo, the most tradition-bound of sports in Japan.

According to the Japan Sumo Association, some non-Japanese wrestlers have taken flak in the past because they tend to be more hairy than most Japanese and some fans found their bushy facial hair unseemly. By and large, not wearing a beard is a tacit rule.

The association, however, is rather flexible regarding the issue.

"We work in the world where luck counts a great deal, so some wrestlers don't shave during a winning streak" because they fear it would change their luck, an association official said.

"It is said that growing a beard or not should be a matter of personal freedom and left to each individual to decide, but organizations fail to function well if they lack a certain measure of discipline," said Mitsuru Yaku, a cartoonist and commentator on various social issues who himself sports a beard.

"A beard is a symbol that is the polar opposite of a virtue associated with a serious-minded adult, and many people equate beards with decadence or moral laxity," he said.

World Bank applauds Cambodia for success in financial industry

People's Daily Online
15:34, June 08, 2010
World Bank applauded Cambodia on Tuesday for a success in financial industry.

Delivering speech at the opening of the workshop on corporate governance in Phnom Penh on Tuesday, Qimiao Fan, World Bank's country manager said "the success of Cambodia's finance industry is proof that improving corporate governance works. Thanks to the national bank of Cambodia's regulations and standards, and close supervision, many of Cambodia's commercial banks and microfinance institutions have raised their standards of corporate governance and been rewarded with greater investment."

Qimiao Fan also prospected that Cambodia will have a promising future due to its geographical location and the growth in many sectors.

"Along with a number of sectors with strong growth potential, a young population with a lifetime of work ahead of it, a stable society and a good geographic location close to much large markets in Asia, Cambodia has a promising future, and especially so if its financial institutions and enterprises offer the comparative advantage of good corporate governance," he said.

Chea Chanto, governor of the National Bank of Cambodia said the recent bad experience of the world financial crisis taught Cambodia the hard way about how the failure of bank and financial system can impact livelihoods. "It is important that countries such as Cambodia take stock of this lesson and seek to avoid a repeat in our own banking and financial system," he said at the workshop titled "Corporate Governance for Banking and Financial Institutions."

He said having learned from the Asian financial crisis, the National Bank of Cambodia has taken a series of measures to better supervise and regulate the banking and financial system in the country.

Chea Chanto, meanwhile, said banks have an overwhelmingly dominant position in the country's financial system, representing more than 90 percent and are extremely important engines of economic growth, citing they are the source of finance for the majority of firms.

Source:Xinhua

Donors to give near $3 billion in 2010-12

The Phnoom Penh Post
Tuesday, 08 June 2010 15:03 Sebastian Strangio

INTERNATIONAL development assistance to Cambodia is expected to top US$2.8 billion for the three years ending 2012, according to indicative financing estimates released during government-donor meetings in the capital last week.

According to a copy of the estimates obtained by the Post, the figure includes the $1.1 billion in pledges announced at the close of the Cambodia Development Cooperation Forum (CDCF) on Thursday, in addition to indicative financing totalling $958 million for 2011 and $750.5 million for 2012.

But observers say the figures do not necessarily point to a decline in aid payments, and that the indications could rise if new donor-funded projects come online over the next two years.

“The indicative financing for 2011 and 2012 could increase a little because donors require some time to confirm their commitments with their respective governments,” said Sin Somuny, executive director of Medicam, an umbrella organisation for health-sector NGOs.

Hady Riad, a councillor at the German embassy, said Germany’s indicative aid figures, which show a decrease from $65.6 million this year to $50.5 million in 2011 and $27 million in 2012, consisted of disbursals for pre-existing aid projects and would be subject to change. “These figures are not to be equated with any new commitments,” he said.

German development assistance spiked in 2010 because of some projects that have had a “long period of implementation”, he said. He added that Berlin would undertake its biannual assessment of projects in Cambodia next year, and that the approval of new projects could potentially boost indications.

Masafumi Kuroki, Japan’s ambassador to Cambodia, said the 2011-12 figures indicated “an overall trend” of donor support for the government, but that his country’s aid figures would also likely be revised. Japan has indicated it will maintain its level of development assistance at $131.8 million each year from 2010-12.

“Our intention is to maintain almost the same level of assistance for the coming years, but it may increase or decrease,” Kuroki said.

The list of aid figures also gives a breakdown of the record $1.1 billion pledged by donors last week. Japan continues to be the country’s largest bilateral donor, pledging $131.8 million for 2010, followed by China ($100.2 million), the US ($68.5 million) and Australia ($61 million).

UN agencies will shell out $86.8 million for 2010, while the World Bank will contribute $122.7 million, the Asian Development Bank $153.8 million and the Global Fund $75.8 million. The figures also show South Korea pledging $26.8 million in aid for this year, a figure that is indicated to rise to $69.4 million in 2012.

This year’s record $1.1 billion aid pledge was an unprecedented signal of strong donor support for Cambodia, but some civil society activists have argued that development partners have done little to pressure the government to meet good governance benchmarks in exchange for aid.

At the close of the CDCF meeting Thursday, Minister of Economy and Finance Keat Chhon praised the support of the donor community, saying the funds would help support the government’s National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP) update for 2009-13, which will require around $1 billion in external funding annually for its five-year duration.

Sin Somuny from Medicam said that the aid slated for the next three years would benefit the country, but that there needs to be improvements in aid effectiveness.

“The country needs this money for development,” he said. “The question is, how do we improve accountability, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness?”