Japanese firms cracking down on employee body odor, dental hygiene

Employers at several companies in Japan are setting hygiene codes, similar to dress codes.

From requiring their employees to brush their teeth at lunch to correctly applying deodorant, employers say they're hoping to improve the work environment.

Lingering cigarette smell and excessive perfume is also being stamped out, reported the DailyMail.  At one company, employees were also told to to avoid eating strong-smelling food before or during work.

Men's cosmetics company Mandom Corp held a hygiene seminar last month.

"Body odor is a very sensitive subject, and it's not easy to tell employees to their face that they smell. But if we pass on the content of this seminar at our workplaces, problems with body odor may improve," said Yasuko Okabe, a SoftBank employee

A public relations executive for another firm told The Daily Mail that the new hygiene requirements could be the result of "a marked increase in the workforce of women, who are sensitive to the smells of men, and the spread of energy-saving awareness leading to higher air conditioner temperature settings may have led to a demand for finding ways to stop perspiration."