This article is from May but just this morning the Asahi Shimbun published an article in Japanese about the practice of making kids whose hair is not naturally jet black prove that they are not dying it by submitting a “natural hair certificate” (“jige shomeisho”; 地毛証明書):
http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASK815T7FK81UTIL04X.html
The article is critical of the practice. Several people interviewed (two experts and one teacher) characterize it as an abuse of the rights of the child. One criticism that is mentioned in the article is that the practice encourages students to focus on differences in appearance instead of helping them to learn to look beyond them. I might add that the burden of having to document the natural condition of one’s hair and the implied message (even if unintended) that having a different color of hair is somehow abnormal or undesirable are also problematic.
Human rights activist Arudo Debito has also written about this:
REPORT: Immigrant children and Japan’s Hair Police http://www.debito.org/?p=412
I don’t know if kids in Kumamoto are required to submit such certificates. My kids were not. (Correction: My wife has informed me that our daughter was indeed asked to submit such a form – with a picture as evidence! As if the word of my wife and the fact that her father is of a different nationality isn’t enough!) Still, I thought this might be of interest to current or future parents in Kumamoto, especially if your kids’ hair is not naturally jet black.
– Kirk
http://www.businessinsider.com/japanese-students-hair-color-2017-5
