TOKYO, March 17, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Every school has its rules, but tough
regulations at some Japanese institutions, mandating everything from black
hair to white shoelaces, are facing increasing criticism and even legal
action.

   Toshiyuki Kusumoto, a father of two in western Japan's Oita, is seeking
court intervention to protect his younger son from regulations he calls
"unreasonable".

   They include rules on hair length, a ban on styles including ponytails and
braids, prohibition of low-cut socks and a stipulation that shoelaces be
white.

   "These kinds of school rules go against respect for individual freedom and
human rights, which are guaranteed by the constitution," Kusumoto told AFP.

   Later this month, he will enter court-mediated arbitration with the school
and city, hoping authorities will revise the rules.

   Change is already under way in Tokyo, which recently announced that strict
rules on issues such as hair colour will be scrapped at public schools in the
capital from April.

   But elsewhere, the rules are fairly common and Kusumoto, who recalls
chafing at similar restrictions as a child, hopes his legal action will bring
broader change.

   "It's not only about our children. There are many other children across
Japan who are suffering because of unreasonable rules," he said.

   Such regulations, which generally come into force when children enter
middle school at around age 12, emerged after the 1970s, according to Takashi
Otsu, an associate professor of education at Mukogawa Women's University.

   - Rules 'destroyed a student's life' -

   At the time, "violence against teachers became a social problem, with
schools trying to control the situation through rules", he told AFP.

   "Some kinds of rules are necessary for any organisation, including
schools, but decisions on them should be made with transparency and ideally
involving students, which would allow children to learn democratic decision-
making," he said.

   The array of regulations has been defended as helping ensure order and
unity in the classroom, but there have been other challenges.

   In 2017, an 18-year-old high-school girl who was repeatedly ordered to dye
her naturally brown hair black filed a lawsuit in Osaka seeking compensation
of 2.2 million yen ($19,130) for psychological suffering.

   The case made national headlines and eventually led to the government last
year instructing education boards to examine whether school rules reflect
"realities around students".

   But in a sign of the difficult debate over the subject, both Osaka's
district and appeals courts ruled schools could require students to dye their
hair black within their discretion for "various educational" purposes.

   The student said she was regularly harassed over the issue even though she
was colouring her hair to meet the requirements, according to her lawyer.

   "This rule destroyed a student's life," he told AFP, speaking on condition
of anonymity to protect his client's identity.

   The student, now 22, has not given up though, and in November appealed to
the supreme court.

   - 'Recipe for unthinking children' -

   There are other signs of pressure to change the rules, including a
petition submitted to the education ministry in January by teen members of
rights group Voice Up Japan.

   They want the ministry to encourage schools to work with students on
discussing rule changes.

   "We started this campaign because some of our members have had unpleasant
experiences with school rules," said 16-year-old Hatsune Sawada, a member of
Voice Up Japan's high-school division.

   The petition gives the example of a girl who was humiliated by a teacher
for growing a fringe that, when flattened with a hand, covered the girl's
eyebrows -- a violation of the rules.

   In Oita, the rules also include school uniforms designated by gender, with
trousers only for boys and skirts for girls.

   The local education board says the rules "not only nurture a sense of
unity among children but also ease the economic burden for families of buying
clothes".

 

   But Kusumoto disagrees.

   "A sense of unity is not something that is imposed, it's something that
should be generated spontaneously," he said.

   Imposing these kinds of rules "is a recipe for producing children who stop
thinking".