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The word "Jap".

Davey

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5 Feb 2005
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There are a lot of discusions about the word Jap on this forum, some say it is a racist word against the Japanese, some say it is just a abbreviation of the word Japanese.

So let`s discuse what you think about the word "Jap". Please keep it friendly!

Here are some meanings I found on the word "Jap":

Wiktionary:

Noun Jap (plural Japs)

Singular
Jap

Plural
Japs

1. A person from Japan or of Japanese ancestry.

Wikipedia:
Jap (variants: Japo, Japse) is a slur used against the Japanese people.

Jap as War Slur

Jap, n was first used in 1860 to refer to members of the Japanese embassy in the United States. It was later popularized during World War II to describe those of Japanese/Asian descent, and was then commonly used in newspaper headlines to refer to the Japanese.

the Jap attack on Pearl Harbor...

In Japanese dictionaries, the term "Jap" is only defined as a disparaging term used against the Japanese people, like it is the case in many English language dictionaries.

Urbandictionary:

A term used for people of Japanses decent, also used as a derogatory term during World War II.

Dicationary.com:
n. Offensive Slang

Used as a disparaging term for a person of Japanese birth or descent.

I think the word Jap, is not that bad anymore if you look in the time were we are living in, and I think it is okay that it is used as abbreviation of the word Japanese. Thinking of the word Jap, as a negative word because of the Second world war is in my opinion MAYBE a bit old fashion ( do I say this good?)

So yeah, share your opinion with us.
 
Jap is still considered an offensive word, even here in Japan. There was an incident recently in Shibuya where after one of the world cup matches a foreigner said the word "Jap" and riot police were dispatched to calm the crowd down.

Just because you are young and its got an "old" meaning doesn't make it right to use it.

Bring back alot of memories for some people of the war, internment camps, etc.
 
I am not of the war generation, but the term "jap" sounds extremely derrogatory to me. That may have to do with war propaganda films I saw in my youth (not during the war, obviously) in which the word jap was said with such venom that it literally made me cringe at the time. It almost certainly has a lot to do with the fact that my native country is America.

I think that as someone born and raised in Holland, it is only natural that you wouldn't have the same feelings toward the word. But it's still a poisonous word to a large number of people. Just remember that the human condition is never confined to one's own experience. This applies universally to all people. But I digress...
 
I find the word "jap" rather degrading, however, I've come to known a few Japanese people who have no problem using the word "jap" themselves. This has caused great confusion to me....
 
Well all I can add from the "war" experience is what my Mom told me. For her High School graduation her Dad, my grandfather, gave her a gold necklace with her initials on it. She wore it with pride, because it was the first jewelry that her father gave to her, she graduated from High School in 1940.

After Pearl Harbor she never wore the necklace again for the rest of her life, she still has it at home in her jewelry case, my Mom's initials are/were because it was her maiden name, J.A.P. She told us that she cried the first time someone accused her of being a JAP lover.

Jump forward to 1986, the year I got married, my uncle, with whom I had a great relationship with growing up, FLAT OUT REFUSED to come to my wedding, because to him I was marrying a JAP. Even though my wife and I were born nearly 20 years after the end of WWII. He didn't come to my wedding because his brother, my uncle, my Dad's brother, whom I never met because he died well before I was born, was killed in Okinawa during the battle here.

For that reason alone he refused to come, he couldn't/wouldn't make the jump of realizing that the two of us had NOTHING whatsoever to do with WWII. He only could remember his brother and accused me of desecrating his memory because I married a Japanese woman. He wouldn't accept my wife as being Okinawan or otherwise and just blamed my wife and her family for his brothers death.

I haven't talked to him for 20 years now, and he died this past March.

My point is this, in comparison to the Japanese word "gaijin" the word JAP is racist, do you ever hear any other contraction of a nationality used in any other way.
 
I have noticed that most of the people I have seen use the word "Jap" in internet posts while claiming that it is common use where they are from and is not intended to be derogatory are Europeans. I accept their word when they say they had no derogatory intent when they used it.

I just can't help but wonder how many of those very same people would take offense to "gaijin" if they came to Japan....
 
As far as I know, only diplomats from DPRK use Jap in the UN official meeting.

Personally I don't find it that offensive, it just depends on people. Why don't you try your own clinical trials on people in Kobe?

Off-topic
All Asians, Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Japanese or whoever, are "chino" in South America. I still remember the embarassing, or stupid, face of a heavily armed border patrol who, I think, assumed me as a chino smuggler, after he even stopped and got on the bus I rode, targeted only me, but he could not find anything but my J passport and camera.
 
Personally I don't find it that offensive, it just depends on people. Why don't you try your own clinical trials on people in Kobe?

If you can find enough people that understand the word in the first place.
 
I think the term is still considered pretty derogatory. I also think you can find Japanese who knows the word's history, it might be only younger Japanese people who tend to not know much WWII history.
 
I think it's extremely derogatory. I grew up listening to old geezers throwing that term around, referring to the people they "pounded" back during WWII. I cringe every time I hear it or see it.

I don't see how anyone could actually believe that the term doesn't have extremely negative connotations...
 
gaijinalways said:
... I also think you can find Japanese who knows the word's history, it might be only younger Japanese people who tend to not know much WWII history.
Wrong. If you're an American, just see around how is anti-American movement here in Japan now, if any.ツ The more I study the after-the-war history, victor's history, in Japan, esp., the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal or brain-washing policy, the more I feel hatred, but I highly appreciate the J post-war history as well.
I don't know if Japanese could act like a great Indian judge in the tribunal, though.
 
I usually use the word Jap just as an abbreviation. Sure, I will never use the word when talking to Japanese people or anyone who could be offended by the word, but when talking to friends I use the word Jap. Doesn't mean I hate Japanese people (heck, I am half-Japanese), I just find it shorter and easier.
But then again we Dutch people, especially from Rotterdam, are very foul-mouthed.
 
one more time, what do you mean with:
Why don't you try your own clinical trials on people in Kobe?
 
Dutch Baka said:
one more time, what do you mean with:
Why don't you try your own clinical trials on people in Kobe?
You cannot get the answer here, at least I've never lived in Kobe before, so just try your own field research or whatever.
 
Dutch, he's saying to walk up to people in Kobe and call them "Jap" and see what their reaction is.

I find it offensive. I once had a "friend" call my oldest son "Jap" when we were visiting my hometown. Needless to say he was looking up at my boots within seconds!

I'm not sure you can label a word as racist or not. As seen in other posts some people are really sensitive to the word gaijin, after applying their own meaning to it...the same happens with this situation. Some people will find it offensive and others will not, just hope that you do not use it around me.

:box:
 
Like godppgo said, I've seen some Japanese people use the word to refer to themselves. It confuses the heck out of me, but I think it has a lot to do with the same word black people use to refer to themselves (the N word). I think of "jap" as racist and derogatory too, mainly because of the negative connotations the Americans gave the word in the time of WW2.
 
My Japanese girlfriend used Jap more then I do.
And I am willing to bet that unless she is over 60 years old she probably doesnt know the "meaning" that many westerner's attach to it.

That's the root of the problem, imo, the majority of the Japanese public are unaware of the meaning because it isn't taught to them.
 
Dutch Baka said:
I think the word Jap, is not that bad anymore if you look in the time were we are living in, and I think it is okay that it is used as abbreviation of the word Japanese. Thinking of the word Jap, as a negative word because of the Second world war is in my opinion MAYBE a bit old fashion ( do I say this good?)

Mikawa Ossan said:
I am not of the war generation, but the term "jap" sounds extremely derrogatory to me. That may have to do with war propaganda films I saw in my youth (not during the war, obviously) in which the word jap was said with such venom that it literally made me cringe at the time. It almost certainly has a lot to do with the fact that my native country is America.

kirei_na_me said:
I think it's extremely derogatory. I grew up listening to old geezers throwing that term around, referring to the people they "pounded" back during WWII. I cringe every time I hear it or see it.

CC1 said:
I find it offensive. I once had a "friend" call my oldest son "Jap" when we were visiting my hometown. Needless to say he was looking up at my boots within seconds!

Rock Lee said:
I think of "jap" as racist and derogatory too, mainly because of the negative connotations the Americans gave the word in the time of WW2.

Time and the lack of teaching true history, (or is it being too PC these days?) does tend to make one forget the hatred and propaganda of the past. Especially to younger people who throw the word around as an abbreviation with no idea or knowledge of it's use in the past especially around people who were around when hatred was at it's peak. Maybe that's a good thing. I don't know.

Mad Pierrot's post of a Superman comic book cover about a year ago sent me on a search for a song I heard a long time ago that was made during WW II titled "Slap The Dirty Little Jap" (I thought I posted it on Jref, but I am unable to find it.)

Listen to the words carefully and you can hear the racism and propaganda of the times in trying to whip up the frenzy of the American people and their hatred of the Japanese in order to garner their support for the war, much like comic book covers and PSA shorts on TV and at the movies.

I wonder how much influence things like this had on the forced interrment of all US citizens of Japanese descent with the country's full support? It truly was a sad chapter in US history.

Songs like this are not unlike quite a few songs made after 9/11 where racial epithets where bandied about about Muslims, Iraq, and the Taliban.

Are propaganda songs and such helpful or harmful in the long run in times of war? Especially after the war is over and the two warring countries become allies.

And also, do you think songs like these help to perpertuate racism and prejudice long after a war is over? Some of these songs may become so ingrained in peoples minds that they become prejudiced forever.

Personally, I feel that they do because people become so brainwashed to hate another culture and its people that they hate them until the day they die. Alot, but not all of the people alive today that were around then still despise the Japanese and throw the word Jap around knowing it is a derogatory word. But they are too brainwashed to know any better. Much like the Communist Chinese continue doing to this day to make their people hate and despise the Japanese for their atrocities during the war when over 95% of the people that committed those crimes and their government are long gone. Or the radical Muslims for that matter that teach their people to "hate and kill all infidels."

Hachiro said:
Jump forward to 1986, the year I got married, my uncle, with whom I had a great relationship with growing up, FLAT OUT REFUSED to come to my wedding, because to him I was marrying a JAP. Even though my wife and I were born nearly 20 years after the end of WWII. He didn't come to my wedding because his brother, my uncle, my Dad's brother, whom I never met because he died well before I was born, was killed in Okinawa during the battle here.

To me the word Jap is still a very derogatory word and much like Hachiro I also had an uncle who said to my mother, "If my nephew marrys a Jap, he's no nephew of mine anymore." And he did't even fight in the war!

On the other hand, my wife's father lost two brothers during the war, but he had no hatred towards Americans after the war and I was treated me like a son.

I think that until the people born in the mid 20th century are long gone then, and maybe then, will the word lose it's derogatory meaning. But if hatred and racism is passed from generation to generation then I think it will remain derogatory forever.
 
I couldn't help but post this, it's the lyrics to a song which Mike Shinoda wrote.
Kenji by Fort Minor
My father came from Japan in 1905
He was 15 when he immigrated from Japan
He, he... he worked until he was able to buy this patch
And build a store
Let me tell you the story in the form of a dream,
I don't know why I have to tell it but I know what it means,
Close your eyes, just picture the scene,
As I paint it for you, it was World War II,
When this man named Kenji woke up,
Ken was not a soldier,
He was just a man with a family who owned a store in LA,
That day, he crawled out of bed like he always did,
Bacon and eggs with wife and kids,
He lived on the second floor of a little store he ran,
He moved to LA from Japan,
They called him 'Immigrant,'
In Japanese, he'd say he was called "Issei,"
That meant 'First Generation In The United States,'
When everyone was afraid of the Germans, afraid of the Japs,
But most of all afraid of a homeland attack,
And that morning when Ken went out on the doormat,
His world went black 'cause,
Right there; front page news,
Three weeks before 1942,
"Pearl Harbour's Been Bombed And The Japs Are Comin',"
Pictures of soldiers dyin' and runnin',
Ken knew what it would lead to,
Just like he guessed, the President said,
"The evil Japanese in our home country will be locked away,"
They gave Ken, a couple of days,
To get his whole life packed in two bags,
Just two bags, couldn't even pack his clothes,
Some folks didn't even have a suitcase, to pack anything in,
So two trash bags was all they gave them,
When the kids asked mum "Where are we goin'?"
Nobody even knew what to say to them,
Ken didn't wanna lie, he said "The US is lookin' for spies,
So we have to live in a place called Manzanar,
Where a lot of Japanese people are,"
Stop it don't look at the gunmen,
You don't wanna get the soldiers wonderin',
If you gonna run or not,
'Cause if you run then you might get shot,
Other than that try not to think about it,
Try not to worry 'bout it; bein' so crowded,
Someday we'll get out, someday, someday.
...
As soon as war broke out
The G.I came and they just come to the house and
"You have to come"
"All the Japanese have to go"
They took Mr. Lee
People didn't understand
Why did they have to take him?
Because he's an innocent labourer
...
So now they're in a town with soldiers surroundin' them,
Every day, every night look down at them,
From watch towers up on the wall,
Ken couldn't really hate them at all;
They were just doin' their job and,
He wasn't gonna make any problems,
He had a little garden with vegetables and fruits that,
He gave to the troops in a basket his wife made,
But in the back of his mind, he wanted his families life saved,
Prisoners of war in their own damn country,
What for?
Time passed in the prison town,
He wanted them to live it down when they were free,
The only way out was joinin' the army,
And supposedly, some men went out for the army, signed on,
And ended up flyin' to Japan with a bomb,
That 15 kiloton blast, put an end to the war pretty fast,
Two cities were blown to bits; the end of the war came quick,
Ken got out, big hopes of a normal life, with his kids and his wife,
But, when they got back to their home,
What they saw made them feel so alone,
These people had trashed every room,
Smashed in the windows and bashed in the doors,
Written on the walls and the floor,
"Japs not welcome anymore."
And Kenji dropped both of his bags at his sides and just stood outside,
He, looked at his wife without words to say,
She looked back at him wiped the tears away,
And, said "Someday we'll be okay, someday,"
Now the names have been changed, but the story's true,
My family was locked up back in '42,
My family was there it was dark and damp,
And they called it an internment camp
...
When we first got back from camp... uhh
It was... pretty... pretty bad
...
I, I remember my husband said
"Are we gonna stay 'til last?"
Then my husband died before they close the camp.
You can see the word "Jap" used in a derogatory way. It's a story about Mike's grandfather who came to America.
 
Younger generation Japanese typically among males commonly use " Jap " as self identification,for they don't regard it as racial insult.
 
ricecake said:
Younger generation Japanese typically among males commonly use " Jap " as self identification,for they don't regard it as racial insult.

Which younger generation Japanese? All of the younger (20's) Japanese living in Japan that I know still find it offensive and do not use the word. Read my post, theres been fights bordering on riots because of people using the word here in Japan.
 
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