In Japan, the dress code for many businesses is very strict, especially for women. Women who work in many formal Japanese businesses and firms have to either wear uniforms, or more often than not, follow a very conservative dress code, both of which require them to wear short, but very painful heels. In the formal business setting, "More than 60% of Japanese women with jobs have been forced to squeeze their feet into heels at work or have witnessed colleagues having to". Ishikawa Yumi, a funeral parlor usher stated that she had to go about her 8-hour shift in heels, remarking how "Women have always been told to follow the dress code, even if it causes pain", being told to endure the pain. Many young women like Ms. Ishikawa are even deterred from wearing glasses in the workplace, their bosses claiming they are unflattering (even when their male workers can openly wear them). In addition to her complaints on Twitter about women being required to wear heels in the workplace, Ms. Ishikawa was also able to gather "18,800 signatures on a petition calling for a ban on employers requiring women to wear high heels, which she submitted to the government last June" as a result of the popularity of her Tweet. However, the petition has not received any formal response since its submission last year. A former labor minister who received the petition even stated that it was "necessary and appropriate” for women to wear heels for work. However, despite the dismal government response to the petition, there have been gradual changes within some businesses in Japan. For example, Japan Airlines has announced that its female flight attendants can swap their heels for heel-less shoes, and that they can wear trousers instead of skirts if they would like. Ms. Ishikawa has also started to collaborate with a shoe company to produce "chic heel-less shoes" for women to wear for work. She hopes that the rules regarding footwear will gradually begin to change in the future.
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