"Don't it Make My Brown Hair Black"

[Mulboyne]

Kyodo via Japan Today: Student sues after teacher sprays dye to force her to change hair color
A 16-year-old girl with chestnut-colored hair filed a damages suit Friday, claiming she was forced to drop out of a Miyagi prefectural high school after a teacher sprayed her with a dye to make her hair black. In the suit filed with the Sendai District Court, she is demanding that the prefectural government pay her 5.5 million yen in compensation. After entering Zao High School in April last year, she was repeatedly told by the teacher to dye her hair black. The teacher sprayed her with dye in November and eventually suggested she should drop out, according to the complaint. The girl is scheduled to attend another high school this month outside Miyagi Prefecture. Shoji Hidetoshi, the assistant principal of the high school, said, "We recognize that the teacher reacted excessively, but we didn't force her to drop out."

[Samurai_Jerk]

When I was teaching in a high school on JET I saw a poor ichinensei girl reduced to tears by a teacher berating her for coloring her hair. Like this girl, she was one of those Japanese that naturally has a lighter hair color.

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!

[Blah Pete]

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!

Yes, one way or another you will submit!!! You will become a good little Japanese robot.

[American Oyaji]

I think that someone needs to put the fear of God in that teacher.

[AssKissinger]

I saw a poor ichinensei girl reduced to tears

I bet you had a big stiffy.

[tonikoro]

What the fuck is going on with this Country? -First it's cut off your Chonmage and wair western clothes, and now it's Black hair or banishment!

[Big Booger]

What do they do with half/both children of mixed upbringing which could lead to a rainbow of colour? Do they too get the hair dye treatment?

I suspect, if my daughter was treated like that, I might take a notion to go down to that school, wait for that particular teacher to drive off, follow him home, get out and and kick him in the mouth.

[vir-jin]

tomorrow starts university. will I be forced to change my seasonalized sakura hair colour?

[jingai]

This just shows that teachers can be mentally ill and go on power trips, too. It's not just for LDP officials and corporate chiefs anymore!

[Samurai_Jerk]

There were some mixed nikkei Peruvians at the school I worked at, but I don't know if they ever got bothered.

I remember another incident where --after summer vacation-- a teacher was going through one boy's hair and ripping out any strands that weren't black enough. He had colored his hair over the summer and dyed it black right before school started but I guess it didn't take in every hair. To me that wasn't as bad as the other situation though. The girl was made to feel like there was something wrong with her natural appearance. That was probably worse than the light physical abuse.

What I never understood was the inconsitency in the enforcement of the rules. Some students always had their hair colored, wore their skirts too short, had colored contacts, had pierced ears, and/or wore make up and never got bothered. Others were mentally abused for having a naturally lighter shade of hair. I guess it just depened on who their teacher was.

[Big Booger]

What's funny is some of the teachers have ridiculously coloured hair... one old bat I used to work with had purple hair... and yet she was anti-color for students as they get... really odd.

And has it been proven that hair colour effects educational performance? I suppose Japanese have studied this and found that black hair is the most conducive colour for learning eh?

[kurohinge1]

...

It's always fun to see the top of a girl's head

Back on topic, perhaps they should just have a separate school for each colour ...

[Mulboyne]

I like the follow-up picture too:


MDN: Japanese women throw their blonde wigs in the air during a promotional event in Tokyo. About 300 Japanese women in identical blonde wigs took part in the event on Sunday before throwing the wigs in the air to debunk the stereotypical western concept of beauty and being urged to develop their own beauty ideal.

[dimwit]

I like the follow-up picture too:


MDN: Japanese women throw their blonde wigs in the air during a promotional event in Tokyo. About 300 Japanese women in identical blonde wigs took part in the event on Sunday before throwing the wigs in the air to debunk the stereotypical western concept of beauty and being urged to develop their own beauty ideal.

Note the number of 'natural' light brown /red headed gals in the crowd.

I do worry about this as my son has naturally chestnut coloured brown hair. Will some ultra-nazi zealot try to force him to change his hair colour?

[Mulboyne]

[cstaylor]

I do worry about this as my son has naturally chestnut coloured brown hair. Will some ultra-nazi zealot try to force him to change his hair colour?

Probably not, but he might get the Mickey Mouse ears treatment.

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Student forced to dye hair gets settlement

A female high school student reached a court-mediated settlement with the Miyagi prefectural government Wednesday at the Sendai District Court over her complaint that teachers at the prefectural high school that she previously attended forced her to dye her naturally chestnut-colored hair black. The prefectural government has apologized to her for having lacked educational consideration and will pay a settlement of 500,000 yen. The student, 17, claimed the actions of the teachers infringed on her human rights.

[Mulboyne]

Sports Hochi (Japanese) reports a similar story to the Miyagi case, this time in Hyogo prefecture. A 15 year old boy dyed his hair brown and a teacher sprayed it black. He and his guardians have appealed to an ombudsman claiming an infringement of the boy's rights. The local Board of Education is rejecting the claim.