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Tokyo children let their hair down - 18th April 2022

Following pressure from students, certain rules governing hairstyles and underwear are to be scrapped at high schools run by the Tokyo metropolitan government. The shift comes close on the heels of a survey which highlighted that uniform policies are increasingly viewed as outmoded by adults involved in education, as well as by schoolgoers themselves.

Around 200 state high schools, along with other places of learning, will soon do away with certain regulations. One such directive insists that every student has black hair, according to the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun. Stipulations prescribing the shade of pupils' underwear and prohibiting the 'two block' hairstyle – where boys sport shorter back and sides in contrast to a floppier top – will also be jettisoned.

For curly-haired pupils, or those whose hair doesn't fall into the black range, several schools will be waiving the condition to provide evidence of its naturalness, although this won't be the case across the board – apparently at the behest of both parents and students.

One member of the Tokyo metropolitan board of education, Kaori Yamaguchi, welcomed the step. At the same time, she bemoaned the fact that addressing students' grievances had been a long, drawn-out process.

She noted, "Japanese people have been taught to believe that it is a virtue to simply abide by the rules." She added, "I hope this will be an opportunity for people to discuss what we should do to create a society where rules are observed in a way that's acceptable to everyone."

Discussions about uniform codes have gained momentum in recent years, after litigation by a young Osakan woman. She argued successfully that as an 18 year old school student, she'd been obliged to dye her hair black despite being a natural brunette or else face exclusion. The government was forced to settle the case.

A few months ago, public secondary schools in Mie, a western region of Japan, abandoned all rules about hairstyles, colour of underclothing and also dating. The local authorities conceded that such stringent demands were relics from a bygone era.

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