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In Japan, Tokyo bans forced hair-dyeing at metropolitan junior, senior high schools
- Thread starter delete12345
- Start date
First off, this is really good, and I appreciate finally stopping such a stupid practice.
Second, what the hell, they ENFORECE black haircolour in freaking SCHOOL!?!
that's super fucked up! Glad it's stopping, but holy hell!
Second, what the hell, they ENFORECE black haircolour in freaking SCHOOL!?!
that's super fucked up! Glad it's stopping, but holy hell!
Wait. You're telling me Japan's schools forced its kids to die their color black if it naturally wasn't black ? wtf?
The idea is that black hair is "normal" and deviation from the norm is a sort of... rebellion against the school uniform. Whether it's auburn or hot pink, either way, you're the nail that's sticking out.
This is the sort of thing that happens when you have a population that's 98% ethnically homogeneous.
No, this is for Tokyo's schools. It's not one central school board give me a break. Lol
Seems more like disputes between people with natural brown hair than rebels with dyed hair.
It's like a "don't dye your hair" rule was written very vaguely a long time ago and has been enforced as "everyone must have black hair" ever since because nobody wanted to rock the boat by trying to change the rule's wording.
I would assume all the crazy hair colors in japanese media are partly stemmed from people feeling so stifled and forced into conformity during actual school and work life.
This issue was in the courts 2 years ago in Osaka:
Some schools run with exceptionally stupid administration were, yes.
B-b-but muh military discipline!
Not sure if that's the reason of why they did this in Japan, but when teachers and parents get super intense about school uniforms and hair in students because "military discipline", it makes me feel really uncomfortable.
If this is not the case in here, disregard this post.
Not sure if that's the reason of why they did this in Japan, but when teachers and parents get super intense about school uniforms and hair in students because "military discipline", it makes me feel really uncomfortable.
If this is not the case in here, disregard this post.
Absolutely.
Anecdotally, I have a half-Spanish friend who grew up here. She was forced to dye her hair black during her entire childhood.
In a delightfully absurd manner, school officials always brought up the same excuse when my friend's mother tried to protest: "our school enforces a strict no-hair-dying policy, therefore your child has to dye her hair black".
It's an improvement, but the forced dying practice still happens at work which sucks. Wife had to do that for one of her jobs.
How the Osaka case lead to a survey/ad campaign this year and then an online petition that led to this new ban in Tokyo:
It's much more likely that it's an attempt at enforcing conformity than anything else. Japanese schools have been notoriously authoritarian for basically forever. At least (probably) nobody died from this rule.
The only reason that non black hair is seen as non conforming is because they believe black hair is the norm. Which is racist.
Now to wait 20 years before they do the same thing for college graduates seeming employment... *crickets*
Not all of them.
My school didn't have that rule at all (or if they did have it it wasn't enforced).
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I don't think that this is born from racism. It's primarily a method of enforcing the original no-dye rule, and doing it in the most ham-fisted way imaginable.
It became racist. If you didn't look like them, then they tell you to conform... by violating the original rule.
If I'm not misremembering, this was a minor plot point early in The Twelve Kingdoms (anime, not sure about the novels). The main character, Youko, had naturally red hair, and got in trouble with her school for not dyeing it black (...under the assumption that she was a delinquent who was secretly dyeing her hair red and lying about it).
She had red hair because she, uh, wasn't exactly Japanese by birth...
This sounds like the ass-backward kind of ancient thinking Japan would enforce, yeah.
Glad it's in legal writing now. Stop this BS in its tracks.
Glad it's in legal writing now. Stop this BS in its tracks.
Freaking finally. This has been such a horrendous thing, especially for exchange students/people of different ethnicity. There are some cases where natural brown haired Japanese students had to dye their hair black as well.
It's all dehumanizing. But Japan wants you to blend into their ideal society.
It's all dehumanizing. But Japan wants you to blend into their ideal society.
More enforced homogeneity in a culture that near-universally asks school students to wear regulation uniforms and adults to adhere to stringent dress codes? Colour me shocked.
In all seriousness, though, this is supremely over the line and I'm glad that it's done with in this school district.
In all seriousness, though, this is supremely over the line and I'm glad that it's done with in this school district.
The folks in this thread saying "but it's just a few school districts" seem to need a reality check, because this practice is sounding a lot more prevalent than they realize, if it's a practice that lasts into adulthood.
Only in the sense that it's common for authoritarian measures to be used in racist ways; even if they weren't originally conceived that way. That doesn't make it any better mind you.
It's only over in Tokyo. Tokyo is a huge part of Japan, but it's a policy that's everywhere and this is just a start.
I get the sense that this comes across as harsher outside of the country. It's a strict and ill-conceived rule one way or the other, but it's not as hard to view it as not having particularly hostile intentions when you consider that most of the world has natural black hair, including the dominant ethnic group in Japan and probably a lot of the non-European immigrants as well. Hell, I was confused when some of my mixed-racial nephews turned out to have brown hair because I thought that would be dominant gene'd out by my (South Asian) side of the family.
Your logic (I use the term VERY lightly) could basically be used to discriminate against/oppress any minority. "Hey it's not malicious/discrimination to ban homosexuality when you consider that most people in this world are heterosexual" etc etc etc.
I didn't say it wasn't discriminatory or that it couldn't be used against minorities. I said it comes across harsher in areas where this rule would come up way more often.
School hair policies are just as racist in Japan as they are in the US. Minority students are disproportionately and agressively targeted. This article is over 10 years old btw:
So nice to see Tokyo shaping up with the Olympics around the corner and the World's eyes watching. I wonder if, and when, the other prefectures will follow.
So nice to see Tokyo shaping up with the Olympics around the corner and the World's eyes watching. I wonder if, and when, the other prefectures will follow.
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Thanks for posting this. This shows issues larger than just hair (and not limited to Tokyo):