I think it’s interesting that Japan IS getting more inclusive over time, but they are quite slow about it. Japan today (as many others have mentioned) is much more progressive, but it’s simply far behind American ideals about what progressive means, and the reasons for that are pretty complicated.
This article suggests it is a reaction to a 90s rebellion trend (so in the same category as banning tattoos):
We have plenty of these in the UK*. I think it’s partly island mentality.
*i.e. not being European, and the famous Daily Telegraph headline “Fog in Channel, Continent isolated.”
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Why should American ideals be the standard or the goal for Japan? Aren’t Japanese standards for Japan good enough?
Like tattoos, it was associated with criminality (and a loser image).
AFAIK that simply is not true that chapatsu was associated with criminality, I can’t find any evidence to support that claim in english or japanese. Tattoos definitely because that’s connected historically with the yakuza.
This really depends on the art style of the show. There are plenty of school based anime where the majority of the characters have dark brown or black hair. Azumanga Daiho for instance:
In general, the more fantastic or unrealistic the plot the more likely you are to see characters with unnatural hair colors.
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As has been stated by others, this IS a very fringe case (with a very high probability of an extreme nationalist bigot in charge of things in said school).
Back in the 80’s, my wife who was then a young teen had pretty light hair for a Japanese (judging from pictures I would say brown). In middle-school she had to carry a card stamped by the school principal saying that it was indeed her natural hair color, but at no point did anyone suggest she should dye it black (although she did think about it because it was a pain to have to show the card to staff who didn’t know her and thought she had it colored).
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I don’t think anyone is arguing that Japan can’t or shouldn’t be themselves, but when it hurts, discriminates and isolates people because they’re not adhering to tradition or strict rules its a problem. I for one am quite fond of Japan in all of its quirks, traditions, and everything else and would not want them to shed their national identity to become more like a western country. I merely would like to see people less repressed by all these strict rules.
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Was that Debito Arudo
Even when I was in agreement with him I found him tedious.
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The thing is though that the strict rules are part and parcel of the national identity and culture.
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I don’t think it would be chaos and that Japan would cease to be itself if they didn’t try to micromanage as much. As it is Japan is pretty bright and outlandish in certain subcultures.
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I’ve read about schools in Korea with regulations that literally require black hair.
They’ve relaxed a lot of the rules for high school girls in recent years here in Good Korea. Light hair colouring isn’t all that uncommon now. Platinum blonde has become very popular with college age women.
it seems that the school can’t admit that it screwed up
TBH I think this is probably more the case. Not that it’s impossible that the school administration has a nationalistic douche nozzle at the wheel, but when authority is in trouble it closes ranks and doubles down. See: Any killer or rapist cop and how the police union handles it…
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I always assumed the funny colored (and occasionally extravagantly styled) hair was there for the same reason comic book characters often have wildly impractical costumes with capes and collars and day glo colors. It’s a concession to the medium, and the viewers should be able to quickly register which character is which. Comic artists call it the ‘silhouette test’.
On the other hand, I’ve watched interviews where they ask Japanese folks what they think the nationalities are of anime characters. They’ll often ascribe different nationalities to folks with different hair. Blondes are almost always American or European. One person assumed that a young character with grey/blue hair was Korean. Clothing is a tip off too, but that only applies to films set relatively in the present, and specifically in japan.
Micromanaging is a common complaint amongst foreign residents but every Japanese person I’ve spoken to believes it to be a good thing. Personally it drives me crazy as a manager and I worry that I might have to tell junior staff the most mundane and obvious things.
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Here it can also be that once authorities decide something nothing can be changed or challenged by underlings.
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Nailed that description!
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I was trying to be kind in my phrasing…
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Fringe, but maybe not yet “very” fringe, sadly. I am very sorry to hear that this extremity is still happening. I first heard about these rules in the early 90’s. One of my neighbors kids told me she was getting a “straight perm” - something I hadn’t heard of before. She was about to enter junior high and the school wouldn’t allow her naturally curly hair. Poor kid. I assumed all schools would make allowances these days for natural hair, but since this story has come up I’ve been hearing from even mixed couples about the (usually Japanese parent) helping the kid conform, just to avoid the regular hassle of proving their curly or light coloured hair is natural.
When my employer (a Japanese start-up) was acquired a few years ago by a US-based fortune 500, we were told to have a look at the dress code (Japanese only). To my shock I discovered that all employees were to have black or naturally greying hair only. My temper flamed as bright as my hair. I contacted the new companies HR to ask if they expected me to dye or face sanction and asked if HQ knew about their racist rules. They changed the wording to natural. (And learned to dread emails with my name attached.)
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Sounds like you pulled a “gaijin smash” as the phrase goes
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Well thank goodness — sustainability will be a good thing. If it doesn’t come too late.
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That’s where the rebellious Japanese youth gets its funny ideas.
