SDF to soften hairstyle rules as recruit shortage worsens

Dealing with bullying and harassment will get you more recruits!

Tats?

I am sure some around here will say it's a slippery slope. My grandfather would have.

Won't make much difference.

Small, but a good move.

60s style buzz cuts are very outdated in 2024 - and many women prefer longer hair too.

60s style buzz cuts are very outdated in 2024 - and many women prefer longer hair too.

LOL, there is a practical reason for short hair for combat troops. Can you think of some ?????

LOL, there is a practical reason for short hair for combat troops. Can you think of some ?????

Take that up with the Ministry who have deemed buzzcuts for recruits unnecessary. I agree with them.

Most young men in Japan - largely - do not want a shaved head. Many young women do not want very short hair. The public school changes reflect this too. If these changes make a career in the Defense Forces a little more attractive, good for Japan.

A world war will involve nuclear weapons which don’t discriminate at all…

It was a long, long time ago, but when I was in basic training with the Canadian army I had long hair because I was in a rock band. I bought a short-haired wig and got away with it until the water safety part, when we had to remove our pants, tie the ankle seams and toss them over our heads to make water wings. I still remember the looks on the faces of not only the Sergeant Major, but also the Captain, both of whom were standing at the edge of the pool, but also those of the other recruits. A priceless memory!

“LOL, there is a practical reason for short hair for combat troops. Can you think of some ?????”

Having long hair can be a disadvantage in a hand-to-hand combat when the enemy grabs you by the hair and thrust his bayonet into your abdomen. A Mohican might impress the enemy but even the JSDF wouldn’t allow that.

The Japanese Defense Ministry will allow Self-Defense Forces recruits to have longer hair from April this year as it aims to make the armed services more attractive to young people.

Yeah, that was the problem.........

British army merely requires it be above the collar and neat and tidy. For women, there is no longer a requirement for long hair to be put up in a bun save for formal parades, ceremonial duties and for trade specific safety purposes.

In Canada military men are now allowed to wear a skirt!

Perhaps there are deeper problems and reasons why people don’t wish to join up. Any perception or tolerance of bullying or harassment will immediately turn off most people, especially sexual harassment is you wish to recruit women. Merely announcing policies will have no effect, they need to be rigorously enforced with high profile punishment of offenders not a bow and all’s forgotten.

In Canada military men are now allowed to wear a skirt!

In Scotland it's compulsory.

In Scotland it's compulsory.

Call it a skirt and you’ll get kilt.

Good move. They need anyone they can get.

In a boneheaded move in the opposite direction, the NYPD commissioner recently announced no more beards for officers. Great idea when you're down thousands of officers and nobody wants to sign up.

Japan,always behind the rest of the civilized world.

It will take another 40 years before they reach again Western standards.

It's a world tendency..

Less people are interested in military..

And it's good..

Japan,always behind the rest of the civilized world.

It will take another 40 years before they reach again Western standards.

And how is a "civilized world"???..

As western world now in decadence is already, is better to be old fashioned..

Facepalm..

Does the SDF really want people who wouldn't sign up over a haircut? Seriously?

High and tight.

Considering SDF are technically special civil servants, having hair regulations beyond the general "keep it professional" without regard to length, thickness, over the ears, etc seems wrong.

Guys would technically be allowed the boy band hairstyles then

2024

Beards are not the reason no one wants to be a cop in NY. Democrats are. You can't let the criminals walk out the same day they are arrested and expect the arresting officer to be pleased. You can't walk around chanting defund the police and expect them to sign up. You can't allow an open border and allow every criminal from 15 countries in without papers and expect the cops to ignore the extra crime. No law gets you no cops. Simple as that. Only when a celebrity or a democrat congressman is attacked will anything be done about lawlessness.

RyderToday 03:26 am JST

You can't walk around chanting defund the police and expect them to sign up.

Yes you can: only once such a law is passed would they have a reason to complain.

You can't allow an open border and allow every criminal from 15 countries in without papers and expect the cops to ignore the extra crime.

Asylum seekers and illegal immigrants generally avoid interactions with the law because they get deported.

No law gets you no cops. Simple as that.

The laws aren't changing.

Only when a celebrity or a democrat congressman is attacked will anything be done about lawlessness.

Sounds like you are encouraging MAGAs to attack celebrities and congresspeople. The book will be thrown at such foolish individuals. And the only reason celebrities are Democrats is because the MAGAs are morally and intellectually bankrupt. No one wants to see such people.

Fighto!Feb. 17  04:45 pm JST

Small, but a good move.

60s style buzz cuts are very outdated in 2024 - and many women prefer longer hair too.

And many men do too. Welcome to 1970, SDF. Ever heard of the Beatles and Rolling Stones and the fashions they inspired?

As for tattoos, it's practically encouraged in the US Navy. I never got one for the fact I could never decide what design I would want. When I a boot camp commander with purple smudges of naked girlies on his arms I told myself NO. I don't want to look like that in 15 or 20 years.

As for beards, they come and go in the Navy and other branches. The US Marines always had buzzcuts 40 years ago, now they don't. Besides, hand-to-hand combat is rare if even happening at all. Technology has changed all that, everything is more advanced and electronic and remotely accomplished.

Look at the wars during the past 30 years and see. It's tanks and armored cars and the ground. Even urban guerilla wars are fought distantly with long range weapons. But more wars are fought even more distantly - air and sea such as the NATO inventions in ex-Yugoslavia, the Libya wars of 1986 and 2011, Ukraine, and the current war with the Houthi hooligans. Missiles and bombs and drones and cyberwar. Hand-to-hand combat? Again, this is 2024. Welcome.

They really think they did something amazing here! Like a haircut is a deciding factor to join the military! How dumb.

Wasn't the original reason for a buzz cut to control lice? No problem with lice, ease up on the hair style rules.

Tattoos? I used to work for an employer that would not allow any visible tattoos, but over the years that rule went away. Society changes, and some rules serve no function. Not that I am into tattoos. I just think they need to be tolerated.