Japanese Student Wins Over $3,000 After Suing Government Over Being Forced to Dye Brown Hair Black

She has recently received compensation after suing Osaka’s local government.

The Osaka district court announced its ruling on Tuesday and ordered Osaka Prefecture to pay 330,000 yen ($3,190) in damages to the student, who is now 21 years old, according to Mainichi Shimbun via SoraNews24.

Presiding judge Noriko Yokota ruled Kaifukan Prefectural High School’s decision to impose its rules regarding the student’s hair as legal.

“Such rules have been established as having a reasonable and legitimate educational purpose, and so maintaining student discipline is within the discretion of the school,” the judge said.

The student, who was 18 years old when the lawsuit was filed in 2017, claimed that her former school forced her to dye her hair black even though she repeatedly said that her hair is naturally brown. The school allegedly examined her hair and declared the student’s roots to be black.

After the examination, the school reportedly forced the student to “either dye the hair black or quit school.” She complied and dyed her hair, but school officials claimed that “her hair was not dyed black enough.”

She eventually left the school in September 2016. In her lawsuit, the student demanded 2.2 million yen ($21,250).

Although the judge deemed Kaifukan Prefectural High School’s decision to be legal, the court still ordered damages to be paid. After the student stopped going to her classes, the school reportedly removed the student’s name from its attendance list.

Meanwhile, the school acknowledged the court’s decision and has no plans to appeal.

“We have not changed our standard of having students who have dyed their hair return it to black, but this case has been a learning experience, and we will be giving greater thought to how to better guide our students,” the school said in a statement.

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