An 18-year-old student is suing her local government after her school told her to dye her hair black. The third-year student attended a high school east of Osaka, Japan. She had naturally brown hair, but her school told her many times to dye it black to follow the school's rules. The 'Mainichi' newspaper reported that school staff told the girl to dye her hair every one to two weeks. This changed to once every four days. The girl's mother said her daughter got a rash on her head and that her hair was damaged. The girl also suffered from a lot of stress at school.
The student is suing for $20,000 in damages. She told the court that the school bullied her for three years and that the school would not accept her hair colour was natural. She was banned from school trips and festivals because of her brown hair. She explained that teachers said things to her in front of the class that embarrassed her. This caused her psychological damage. She said that a teacher told her that she should not come to school with brown hair. The girl said that she was so stressed one day that she collapsed. She had to go to hospital by ambulance.