Japan is considering whether schoolchildren can now be required to wear white underwear and dye their hair black.

In recent years, there has been a growing debate in Japan about whether it is no longer a requirement to have strict appearance rules in schools to this day.

Japanese schools have traditionally followed strict appearance rules, and school uniforms are commonly used in high schools and high schools. The accessories are procured themselves, and many schools have detailed rules regarding, for example, the color of socks and underwear and hairstyles. Dyeing hair other than black is generally prohibited.

Now, however, the situation is changing. As of the semester that began in April, underwear for high school students in Tokyo’s public high school no longer needs to be white, and inherently non-black hair no longer needs to be dyed black.

A similar deregulation has taken place all over Japan. Strict rules can be found, especially in public schools and small towns.

However, there is little discussion about giving up school uniforms altogether, says the East Asian Research Center at the University of Turku. Annamari Konttinen.

– School uniforms themselves are mainly associated with positive or neutral connotations, and many students are attached to their school uniforms.

School uniforms create a sense of belonging and even out socio-economic differences. However, young people also want to realize their individuality.

– Part of youth culture is the identification of school uniforms, but in such small ways that only other initiates can recognize them.

In early April, the age of majority was lowered in Japan from 20 to 18 years. Part of the reason for the country’s strict school discipline has also been that high school students are still thought to be children in need of guardianship.

On the other hand, sexualizing and sexual harassment of young people is commonplace in Japan. Therefore, a significant part of school discipline has been specifically related to the restraint of young people’s sexuality and the general conservative attitude towards what is appropriate for minors. For example, private schools may completely prohibit students from socializing.

In recent years, the debate on individual rights has also gained a foothold in Japan. Lingerie inspections while standing in line have been criticized as humiliating, as has the idea that girls need to be watched for boys in general. The requirement of whiteness of underwear is often justified by the appearance of the bra through the shirts.

Many rules have been criticized in general as unequal. Make-up is considered inappropriate at school, although it is expected after the transition to work. No one cares about the color of the boys’ underwear. Prohibitions on the use of tights only bother girls who have to wear skirts even in winter.

For these reasons, more and more communities are moving to gender-neutral school uniforms.

There have also been many illogicalities left over from the complicated rules over the years. In many schools, for example, ponytail is banned so that boys are not disturbed by girls ’bare necks. However, bobs are rarely banned.

The rise of juvenile delinquency in the late 1970s has been cited as the reason for the emergence of strict school rules. For example, in recent years, the trendy side haircut has been combined with gang culture, so it is only allowed in Tokyo schools now that the rules have been broken.

Forbidden things have changed with youth fashion. In the 1980s, ankle-length skirts that facilitated motorcycling were combined with problem youth, while in the 1990s, short skirts and loose socks were combined.

High school teacher Hitoshi Kawasaki says Japan Times (you will switch to another service)that took a lot of time to teach students all the rules accumulated over the years. Also, it was laborious to decide if a hairstyle violated the rules or not.

In Japan, it is customary to think that internal discipline starts with external discipline. After Kawasaki had proposed a simplification of his school’s appearance rules, colleagues were concerned that it could give rise to juvenile delinquency in students.

According to Konttinen, in Japan it is customary to think that if a school loses control over its students, they will be socially discarded.

– Many Japanese homes expect school to be the place where young people learn discipline.

There has been an increasing debate about the rules in Japan after a high school student in a partner in 2017 sued his school in court. According to school rules, all students had to have black hair.

The student had been instructed to dye her hair, which was naturally brown, to black, but continuous dyeing damaged her hair and scalp. When he had finished staining, teachers had put pressure on him to drop out of school, among other things, by removing his desk from the classroom.

The court condemned the school to pay damages, but found that it had acted within its powers. The student has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.