"Petition seeks end to forcing Tokyo high school students to dye hair black"

Mainichi:

With some metropolitan high schools in Tokyo still instructing students to dye their hair black despite it naturally being another color, a group has presented the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education with 19,065 signatures backing a written request to stop the practice.

...

In western Japan, a woman who was forced to dye her natural brown hair as a third-grade student at an Osaka Prefecture-run high school launched a suit in 2017 for some 2.2 million yen in compensation. The case is pending at the Osaka District Court.

Telegraph (from May):

Some 60 per cent of public schools in Japan require that all pupils submit a document called Natural Hair Certification, which confirms the natural colour and degree of curliness of their hair.

A new survey shows one in 13 schoolchildren had subsequently been “urged” by their school to dye their naturally brown hair black.

The survey of 1,000 children and teachers accompanies a new campaign masterminded by P&G’s Pantene shampoo brand, which also sells hair dye, to challenge the expectation.

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The debate was fuelled further last month, with the launch of a new petition offering a high-profile opposition to hair rule restrictions on schoolchildren in Japan.

The petition, which was reportedly inspired by the Pantene campaign, attracted more than 10,000 signatures in the first few weeks, with plans to present it to Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.

*Previously: Using carefully placed garbage to advertise Kit Kats