The rioters in China are demanding that Japan apologize for the atrocities the Japanese army committed in World War II. Three days ago the Japanese government demanded that the Chinese government apologize for the the size and ferocity of the riots. Today the Hong Kong government demanded an apology from Asahi TV because of their “biased” coverage of the riots.
My theory is that all of Asia is secretly governed by 12-year-olds.
Most Japanese junior and senior high schools have rules prohibiting girls from dying or perming their hair. That’s fine, except for the small number of people who have naturally brown or wavy hair.
Most of the time these students must prove that the natural state of their hair is not straight and black, and they are left alone. However, many particularly zealous teachers and principals perversely interpret the rule agist dyed hair to mean that all students must have straight, black hair.
A student from Miyagi is suing the public school system for 5.5 million yen because after she refused to dye her natually-brown hair black — which would have violated the school rules — a teacher sprayed black dye on her. After the incident the school pressured her to drop out. (Remember this is a public school!) She has now transferred to a private school outside the prefecture where she will have to repeat 10th grade.
The principal of the high-school claimed they did not force the girl to quit, and stated that although the teacher in question may have acted excessively, there is no need for disciplinary action.
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20050408-00000213-yom-soci
Now this kind of thing happens fairly often in Japan. However, it only makes the news when a lawsuit is filed, which seems to be once every couple of years. What I find astounding, however, is that every time these stories are reported, they are treated in isolation. As if it was the day’s human-interest story with no connection to hundreds of other cases just like it.
For what it’s worth, the girls almost never win these cases. The judges and the population as a whole tend to feel sorry for them, but always tend to add. “But why didn’t she just dye her hair and solve the problem?” Likewise, the fact that the girl is now forced to attend a private school in another prefecture is considered the be unfortunate, but inevitable. It would be unthinkable to blame the principal or teacher in this situation.
Rules in Japan are not like rules in the west. Rules in Japan are not meant to be binding on the people who make them. Rules are simply one of several tools that can be used to control. They are invoked or ignored as appropriate for a given situation.