I just learned a new word: Kousoku (校 則), which Wordbank defines as “School rules. This refers mainly to the code of conduct that students should follow. (The rules governing school management).” Japan Times had a more detailed description at the link, including a telling quote: “The biggest objective of Japanese teachers is to keep their classes as orderly as possible and without any incident, and the most common way to achieve that has been to limit students’ freedom.”
Perhaps Kumamoto, being a pretty mellow place unlike the larger cities, is immune to this phenomenon of checking underwear and hair color. My kids certainly never had a problem with this; they enjoyed school. Have any of our readers encountered such practices? - William
