[Meerax]

I had absolutely no idea this was part of the dress code.

"The ostensible reason for the rule is that almost all Japanese people have naturally black hair, and so they’ll only have non-black hair if they’ve chosen to dye it a different color."

Are there any children currently enrolled in Tokyo public schools that are of say european ancestry with blonde hair that needed to follow this rule?

[yolobey]

A German friend of mine, who did high school I think in Osaka encountered this. If I remember it right one teacher wanted to enforce this and dye his hair so that he wouldn't stand out, but the principal overruled him and he didn't end up with black hair.

[Hamuko]

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/the_nail_that_sticks_out_gets...

[Meerax]

So pairing this with a quote from the article “Students are encouraged to have black hair to serve as a visible signal that they are willing to adapt to society,” makes it feel like accepting societal norms isn't just encouraged it's almost a fascist doctrine? I'm assuming then that phrases like "celebrate diversity" are frowned upon. Edit: I just wanted to add that having not grown up in a non-individualistic society these things feel very unusual to me. My comparison to fascism is a bit hyperbolic and not meant to offend, apologies all round. I'm leaving it instead of deleting purely for the sake of discussion.

[cbozeman]

Japan is extremely racist, but generally in that "clueless Uncle" kind of way, not the "actual malicious dislike" way of say, China right now.

Societal acceptance is an enormous aspect of Japanese society. It isn't "fascism", its their culture. Japanese people like diversity in the same way extremely wealthy American liberal people like diversity. Its a great idea that almost everyone will openly back... right up until you tell them you're going to re-locate a lot of diverse peoples around their homes. Then you see the backpedaling.

[wyclif]

I have long blond hair and blue eyes, and every time I go to Japan I get stared at with the intensity of a thousand suns. It is a nearly homogeneous culture and most Japanese people are conformists.

[nobodyandproud]

Hah. I like the liberal characterization.

Like the massive nimbyism in Cape Cod, when windmills were being proposed.

I’m a democrat, but I don’t have tolerance for hypocrites.

[numpad0]

> "clueless Uncle" kind of way

This nails it. And Japanese school teachers are textbook example of that.

[mibollma]

>not the "actual malicious dislike" way of say, China right now

mind to elaborate on that?

[cbozeman]

I'm not sure how much you know or don't know, so it might be hard to know where to start.

Over the past few years as China's economic growth has slowed for everyone (but less so for the upper middle class and the wealthy), there's a lot of growing discontent that's turning into outright hostility towards white and black foreigners who poorer Chinese people see as "hurting the Chinese economy" in some way.

This is exacerbated by local Chinese media outlets and party politicians that need a place to put the blame, and so immigrants are chosen. You can't blame the Party. For what ought to be obvious reasons (see: Jack Ma).

Westerners don't really see this because if you read The Economist, the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and/or listen to Fox Business, CNBC, Bloomberg, etc., then according to them, China is the land of plenty - a veritable mine full of diamonds and platinum waiting to be extracted. These people aren't stupid by the way - they know that China's economy is a glass house that could be fairly easily cracked. They have the same information you have, they can see the enormous tracts of empty 20-50 story-tall apartment buildings. They just don't care, because they (falsely) think that economic interest is the sole motivator of Chinese policy. I mean, what else could it be, right?? Why would anyone care about anything but profit? So they discard any information that could lead them to different conclusions about the economic prospects of the nation. For the very few that haven't been brainwashed by business school, the promise of 1,000,000,000 future middle class customers is just too much to ignore, but they too are blinded by greed, but they're blind to how China operates. China wants to own it. They don't want their customers using Samsung and Apple phones and LG washing machines and driving Teslas. They want their customers using Huawei and Xiaomi phones, and using Chinese washing machines, and driving Chinese electric cars.

So anyway... because of poor central planning - because unfortunately all central planning is poor by its very nature, you need people to be able to be flexible based upon local circumstances and conditions - the effects are starting to be felt, by the poorest Chinese. And like all poor people, they tend to blame immigrants.

It isn't a critical problem - yet - but many foreign workers (mostly white, Western, educated one) are starting to leave because the climate is becoming hostile.

[orwin]

Agree with everything you said, and wha'ts left unsaid (uygours, the aging issue, the abandonned youths in central China, and many others). But this:

> because unfortunately all central planning is poor by its very nature

Is untrue for a very specific subset of issue: nation-wide infrastructure. W/o central planning, not nuclear plants, no French/Japanese/Italian/Chinese trains. Electricity: the bigger you network is, the easier it is to pilot said network. Central planning is a tool, like the free market is a tool. Hardcore Liberals and Communists will both disagree with me, but it is 2021, i think we're past Marx and can recognize Adam Smith was not always right (even if he was on point on a lot of thing).

You can also have a central-planning thingy along a river that multiple community use to better allocate a really needed ressource that is called water. Not nation central planning, but something in between.

[vmilner]

Well, I read this in The Economist:

  https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/10/17/the-persecution-of-the-uyghurs-is-a-crime-against-humanity

[generalizations]

It's the logical derivation of a non-individualist society.

[rowanG077]

It's just a different culture. Societal harmony is more important then individuality.

[asutekku]

I know that at least a bald friend of mine had to get black wig to get employed / taken seriously in Japan.

[paulryanrogers]

Is baldness uncommon in Japan?

What about naturally graying hair?

[asutekku]

Both are uncommon for young people.