The word "Jap".

[Kaleikuiha]

True, too true <i>Ewok85</i>. The word Jap and Nip are both very incurageable here in Nippon and America... I don't know about the rest of the world thou!?

 

[Hachiro]

Younger generation Japanese typically among males commonly use " Jap " as self identification,for they don't regard it as racial insult.

I am curious in what situation you would be in that anyone would "commonly" use that word at all.

ALso generalizing about an entire generation is in my opinion a flat out mistake.

You may very well have some friends that find nothing wrong with the term, but I would be willing to be my entire paycheck that is purely out of ignorance about it's meaning to other people.

I'd also bet that they never knew the word was seen as having a "racist" meaning either.

 

[Kaleikuiha]

well the meaning of the word Jap has two finite meanings in America.. mainly my family. This one is mainly used by my Granpa's, which fought in the WW2. But Jim the one who served in the Pacific Theater; uses this term always and is enthrawled w/ the Japanese culture to his end.

One is Jap short for Japanese.. a WW2 name for them, and a accr. J.A.P which means Jewish American Princess.. which is common use in the City aka NewYork City. Well my father uses the term Nipponese instead of Japanese.. because in Japanese or Nihongo, Japan is Nippon/Nihon.

 

[ricecake]

I am curious in what situation you would be in that anyone would "commonly" use that word at all.

I'd also bet that they never knew the word was seen as having a "racist"
meaning either.

Ummm .... I recall on several occasions,they loosely used the word for products made in Japan like it's a piece of Jap work,never addressed someone Japanese not in my presence though.

 

[Silverpoint]

My closest Japanese friend told me he finds it offensive. That's all the information I need.

 

[GodEmperorLeto]

1) Although people are still alive that remember it, the war ended over 60 years ago. It is time to move on. Yeah, many Japanese lost their lives. Yeah, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Tokyo firebombings were terrible and civilian casualties were enormous. Americans died after being surprise attacked at Pearl Harbor. Bataan Death March. Suicides at Okinawa . The Rape of Nanking. I have dead family at the bottom of Pearl Harbor and the Coral Sea, as well as the English Channel.

But it is over now. Period. It's been over for 60 years. Both sides need to let it go. Both the Japanese and the Americans. If anything, we have more reason to hate England, historically, but we are more than just cordial now, it seems.

2) I'm Italian/German American. And I've been called dego, wop, guinea, and kraut. Irish get called micks. I've had Jewish friends called "kikes". Many of these names were tossed by friends. Many of them were used affectionately, or as a way to bust one-another's stones.

3) What I am trying to say is that people need to get over themselves. They need to get over political correctness and all that crap. I don't know about people from other countries, but in the United States, people have freedom of speech (for the time being), and anyone who lives here should be prepared to be offended. And I'd for damn sure pick up a gun and die for someone's right to call me a greaseball kraut-wop bastard.

This is really no different than the gaijin debate. Yeah, some people use the word "Jap" in a derogatory way. Not everyone. Some people don't know the history of the word or its connotation. But if an American in Japan can swallow his pride when some kid points and says, "Okaasan! Ano hito wa hen gaijin da!" or something like that, well the Japanese (and everyone else on Earth) can learn to do the same.

Get offended if the person means to offend you. That's fine. But if some dude who obviously doesn't know any better refers to a Japanese person as a "Jap", you can educate him. But don't get pissed off if his Japanese American buddy gets called a Jap, because he's probably calling the kid a kraut, mick, wop, etc. right back.

People need to start watching Carlos Mencia more and stop taking this crap so darn seriously.

 

[Silverpoint]

But if an American in Japan can swallow his pride when some kid points and says, "Okaasan! Ano hito wa hen gaijin da!" or something like that, well the Japanese (and everyone else on Earth) can learn to do the same.

I think "if" is the key word here (emphasis mine). Much as you may take pleasure in being called a greaseball kraut-wop bastard, I don't think every American has yet learned to swallow their pride over the term "gaijin", and until that happens, I think the Japanese have every right to object to "Jap" if they so desire it.

This is not to put down Americans, they're just the example you used. Clearly from reading this forum, not every Belgian has come to terms with the word yet either ;-)

 

[caster51]

I may be typical..
I know what " Jap" means well.
howver it is an english word.
I dont care to be called a Jap. because here is japan
samething in chinese " ﾂ渉ｬ窶ｹSﾅｽqﾂ"
what a cute word
that is , it is not japanese language .so I dont get it well and who cares.
japanese is kotodama language.
jap is a nice sound

 

[Silverpoint]

Caster -forgive me if I query your comment.

Interesting English language point here:

"I don't care to be called" -> I don't like it.

"I don't care about being called" -> It's no problem for me.

From your comment I'm not sure whether you actually meant the first or second example. Apologies for questioning your judgement. The only reason I noticed, was because my wife has confused the two in the past.

 

[caster51]

Jap is an english word.
it is not japanese word.
therefore it is no problem that they call a japanese "jap"

 

[Silverpoint]

Thanks. I had a feeling that might be what you meant. Prepositions are a pain sometimes. ;-)

 

[godppgo]

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.

I think there's a difference between Japanese who use the word "jap" and black people who use the N word. In most cases, Japanese who use the "jap" word do not realize the racial connotation behind the word (especially young girls who might just find the word cool to use). However, almost all black people know the racial connotation behind the N word.

 

[osias]

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.

Those who understand English may find it offensive, but English is a foreign language to the Japanese after all. Some people may not understand the connotations attached to it. One has to understand the cultural context to understand the meaning of a word.

Someone on the forum said japan is racist due to ignorance of things like "Little Black Sambo", but the people do not know that "Sambo" is a racial slur because most people have no understanding of the historical background like the minstrel shows.

The racism of a word is not overt in the beginning, but some terms go from being covert to open and derogatory.

 

[pipokun]

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.

Minor corrections:
A forigner->American football fans or just gaijin right abusers
Riot police->Just cops or omawarisan in Shibuya
The point is that there were some young Japanese who wanted to shake hands with the stupid guys, but...
I don't know how intolerant football or baseball fans in other countries, but they could do it because it was in Japan, or, at least, not in the Hanshin Tigers home.

 

[kirei_na_me]

My husband would never think of referring to himself, or any other Japanese person, as a "Jap". He's 37. That means he was definitely not growing up during or right after WWII, and he clearly knows what it means. He was always taught "never to say that" because of its negative meaning.

 

[pipokun]

Ummm .... I recall on several occasions,they loosely used the word for products made in Japan like it's a piece of Jap work,never addressed someone Japanese not in my presence though.

Japanese tend to describe themselves "I get old" more often than people in other countries, I actually do. This is my favorite stereotype on Japanese my friend told me before, maybe she is right. So how young were the Japanese you met?

 

[ArmandV]

The term Jap was widely used during World War II. According to my mother, it was more widely used on the West Coast. We have newspapers of the day with "Japs Surrender," "Japs (this)" and "Japs (That)." The WWII generation will still use it at times (until they all die off).

 

[caster51]

"Sambo" is a racial slur because most people have no understanding of the historical background like the minstrel shows.

sambo is an indian,isn't he ?
american rewrote him a black without permition.
why do we have to know that?

 

[caster51]

ﾋ彖ﾂ人 is also racial slur.
however , it is no problem for the Japanese.
It might come from confidence.
because it looks down on them oppositely.?

 

[Hachiro]

The term Jap was widely used during World War II. According to my mother, it was more widely used on the West Coast. We have newspapers of the day with "Japs Surrender," "Japs (this)" and "Japs (That)." The WWII generation will still use it at times (until they all die off).

I wouldn't know about that it was "more" widely used out on the left coast, could be because of the internment camps and the Japanese immigrants that lived there. According to my parents it was fairly commonly used in the mid-west and east as well.

Do you remember the "Bubble" economy and the Japan bashing that was going on back then? The word got refreshed in the minds of the "next" generation as well, particularly among blue collar automobile industry workers. So as another poster commented, racial epitaphs get handed down through the generations.

 

[ricecake]

倭人 is also racial slur.

Long ago,both Koreans and Chinese commonly used this racial slur on Japanese as " Dwarfs " or Japan as " Dwarfs nation " in conversations and written texts.

I always wonder,if ancient Japanese people were really " munchekins " islander race.:?

 

[Ewok85]

Minor corrections:
A forigner->American football fans or just gaijin right abusers
Riot police->Just cops or omawarisan in Shibuya
The point is that there were some young Japanese who wanted to shake hands with the stupid guys, but...
I don't know how intolerant football or baseball fans in other countries, but they could do it because it was in Japan, or, at least, not in the Hanshin Tigers home.

Riot police - police in riot equipment is what the article stated from memory, which sounds very riot policy.

 

[den4]

I tend to wonder what racial slurs have to do with political correctness or incorrectness...if one is uttering racial slurs to offend, then that is just common indecency, or more likely the person is just being a jerk because the person believes he or she can get away with that...you don't just "get over" somebody that is intentionally out to slam you with racial slurs or insults...how much time has passed does nothing to lessen the intent...
But as far as the Japanese that use Jap and aren't offended, that's nice...have the same person go around in total innocence and say the "N" word in the middle of a crowd of Black folks in Tokyo and see how far they get without some re-education...seems like it'd be better policy to just avoid saying words that have known offensive capabilities, at least until you know the crowd you're hanging around with aren't going to get offended by the terms...trying to justify the usage in a crowd of offended folks just isn't the wisest course of action...unless you are intending to be the next Darwin Awards candidate...peace...

 

[pipokun]

Riot police - police in riot equipment is what the article stated from memory, which sounds very riot policy.

For me, at least, J riot police, kidotai, is a kind of heavily armed cops with a shield and helmet. Like this.
http://www.jca.apc.org/HHK/NoNewBases/video/n3_crashsite_police.jpg
And the omawarisan concerned.
http://sports.livedoor.com/photo/detail-1579.html
I bet the agitating guys just left a police box after the easy-going cops said "just calm down" or something like that.
Again, they could do it because it was in Japan.

Back to the topic,

窶啖窶唹ﾂ催篠鞘?板、ﾂ税停?堙≫?堙?陳ｶ窶卍ｮﾂ？ﾂ「ﾆ棚ﾆ弛ﾆ耽ﾆ椎?ﾆ但ﾆ停?慊」窶堙家鱈ﾆ椎停?堙??貼ﾂ行
窶｢ﾂｺﾅ津嫁陳ｧﾅ遅ﾂ静ｬﾂ青ｼﾂ渉絶?堙坂?啀窶啀窶愿ｺﾂ、ﾅｽﾂｩ窶｢ﾂｪ窶堙娯?扼窶氾ｮ窶堙ｰ窶堋ｩ窶堙ｧ窶堋ｩ窶堙ｭ窶堙ｪ窶堋ｽ窶堙?ｽv窶堋｢窶ｹtﾂ湘｣ﾂ、ﾂ鞘?板青ｫ窶啣ﾂ人窶堙ｰ窶ｰﾂ｣窶堙≫?堋ｽ窶堙??堋ｵ窶堙??貼ﾂ行窶堙固陳ｻﾂ行窶敕??堙??慊ｯﾅ陳ｧﾂ静ｬﾂ青ｼﾅｽs窶堙個青ｴ窶?ﾋ?ｵ窶堙個鞘?板（窶啖窶唹ﾂ）窶堙ｰ窶佚溪?｢ﾃ溪?堋ｵ窶堋ｽﾂ。
http://www.zakzak.co.jp/top/2006_07/t2006071211.html
A drunken 70 yr old woman hit young women in Hyogo.
Hyogo police arrested the old woman who believed young women had played trick on her swearing "obatalian".

Aged women in Kobe seem a bit too tough.

 

[Ewok85]

Ok, I hadn't seen the picture, you're probably right.

Though I remember seeing Japanese police somewhere that had riot sheilds and helmets... might have been the guys who keep watch at Ueno or at a koban somewhere. Was a little unsettling.