Photo/Illutration Members of the Osaka Bar Association talk about the statement they sent to a private boys’ high school on March 23 in Osaka’s Kita Ward, arguing its hairstyle policy for its students has some problems. (Shoko Matsuura)

OSAKA--A group of lawyers is calling on a local private high school for boys to stop forcibly cutting the students’ hair on inspection day, arguing that it violates their human rights.

Although the school’s hairstyle code is fine by itself, the Osaka Bar Association said on March 23 that the way teachers conduct the monthly inspection needs a makeover.

The school said it will take the statement seriously and respond sincerely.

The bar association said the teachers there will cut their students’ hair when it is too long, or even order the boys to cut it themselves on the spot.

Yet despite its strictness, the hairstyle code is often applied unevenly, the lawyers argued.

They said sometimes at the monthly check, one student is disciplined for failing to comply with the rules while another with the same hairstyle gets off scot-free, resulting in some being unfairly singled out and picked on.

The school rules set out that its students’ hair should be short enough at the front that it does not hang below their eyebrows and that it remains cropped closely on the back and sides.

The lawyers interviewed the school’s students and their parents after several students sought their assistance in April 2022.

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