Japanese schools have a reputation for enforcing odd restrictions, some of which are downright alarming. For example, female students do not have permission to wear their hair in ponytails. Female pupils are not permitted to wear ponytails at school because the “nape of their necks” may “sexually excite” male students.
Motoki Sugiyama, a former middle school teacher, told Vice the reasoning is similar to that of the schools’ white-only underwear policy so that they won’t show through the uniforms. “They’re worried boys will look at girls, which is similar to the reasoning behind upholding a white-only underwear colour rule. I’ve always criticized these rules; but because there’s such a lack of criticism and it’s become so normalized, students have no choice but to accept them,” he said.
According to Vice, a 2020 poll found that one in every ten schools in the southern prefecture of Fukuoka forbade the hairdo. Sugiyama had taught for 11 years in five different Shizuoka prefectural schools, all of which prohibited ponytails. He has been attempting to uncover unfair demands on students; because he believes the gendered restrictions are sexist and inhibit students’ self-expression.
School dress code in Japan faces criticism
Japan’s public schools have been facing criticism for enforcing ludicrous dress code regulations. Following public outcry, schools had to abandon the all-white underwear regulation last year. This school rule was facing criticism for infringing on students’ human rights and privacy; since some school staff members allegedly checked their underwear when they changed for their sports activity. Some even pull on female classmates’ bra straps.
The Saga Prefecture Board of Education investigated problematic policies at 51 managed middle and high schools and discovered that 14 of them had a white-underwear requirement. The board eventually agreed to do away with the rule. There have been no checks on the colour of pupils’ underpants since the previous school year. To be more welcoming to anyone who identifies as non-binary or gender fluid; the board recently repealed laws requiring the labelling of different uniforms for male and female students.