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Updated March 30th, 2023 at 19:17 IST

Japan school sparks debate as mixed-race student banned from grad ceremony over hairstyle

The 18-year-old, who was born to a Japanese mother and an African-American father, claimed he plaited his naturally curly hair for the ceremony to make it look.

Reported by: Digital Desk
Japan
Image: Shutterstock | Image:self
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Strict hairstyle regulations at Japanese schools have come under fire after a mixed-race adolescent who had plaited his hair into cornrows to honour his Black background was segregated from other students at their graduation ceremony. The graduate, who has not been named, was instructed not to stand up and speak when his name was called during the graduation ceremony at his school in Himeji, western Japan, reported The Guardian.

The 18-year-old, who was born to a Japanese mother and an African-American father, claimed he plaited his naturally curly hair for the ceremony to make it look neater. He also said he had read about the cultural significance of cornrows online and from his father.

'I wasn’t able to create happy memories,' says the unnamed school boy

“I wasn’t able to create happy memories to mark the three years I spent at the school with my friends,” he told the Mainichi Shimbun. “I was frustrated because I felt like I was being told, ‘This is not your special day.’ The hairstyle represented my father’s roots and culture in the Black community.”

The student was placed in segregation, according to the vice principal of the school, merely for disregarding the regulations about haircuts. The Guardian reported that the child departed during the ceremony but subsequently came back to pick up his diploma. Nonetheless, he was made to wait in a barren room and accompanied to the lavatory by a teacher who later ordered him to leave the school grounds while he awaited his pals.

Haircuts must not be 'trend'

According to the school's rules, haircuts must be “clean and appropriate for a high school student,” not "trendy." The guidelines do not specify braiding, but students are not allowed to bleach, colour, or straighten their hair. 

Lawyers warned that teachers at an exclusive boys school in Osaka were violating students' human rights by routinely inspecting and even trimming their hair, but they refrained from calling their acts unlawful.

The Osaka Bar Association's letter, which was published this week in response to complaints regarding the school's enforcement of its hairstyle policies, mandates that all 1,780 students maintain short hair around their ears and necklines and forbid fringes that extend past their eyebrows, was sparked by the complaints.

According to local media, a public high school in western Japan announced this year that it would begin implementing gender-neutral school policies in April, including allowing guys to grow ponytails. Many junior high schools in the prefecture of Fukuoka, in the country's southwest, will no longer force students to wear haircuts particular to their gender.

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Published March 30th, 2023 at 19:17 IST

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