Jap

Jap is an English abbreviation of the word "Japanese." Today it is regarded as an ethnic slur, though English-speaking countries differ in the degree they consider the term offensive. Japanese Americans have come to find the term controversial or offensive, even when used as an abbreviation.Gil Asakawa, [http://www.jref.com/nikkeiview/jap.shtml Nikkeiview: JapJapJapJapJapJapJap] , July 18, 2004.] In the past, Jap was not considered primarily offensive; however, after the events of World War II, the term became derogatory.Paul Fussell, "Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War," Oxford University Press, 1989, p. 117.]

The official three-letter and two-letter international country codes (ISO 3166) for Japan are "JPN" and "JP", while the international language codes (ISO 639) for Japanese are "jpn" and "ja" (not jp).

History and etymology

The first recorded use of Jap was in 1860 to refer to members of the Japanese embassy in the United States. An example of benign usage was the previous naming of Boondocks Road in Jefferson County, Texas, originally named "Jap Road" when it was built in 1905 to honor a popular local rice farmer from Japan. [ [http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_tol.jsp?id=1034 Tolerance.org: Texas County Bans 'Jap Road' ] ]

Later popularized during World War II to describe those of Japanese descent, Jap was then commonly used in newspaper headlines to refer to the Japanese and Imperial Japan. "Jap" became a derogatory term during the war, more so than "Nip".Some in the United States Marine Corps also tried to combine the word "Japs" with "Apes" to create a new description, "Japes", for the Japanese. However, this new word never became popular. Veteran and author Paul Fussell explains the usefulness of the word during the war for creating effective propaganda by saying that "Japs" "was a brisk monosyllable handy for slogans like "Rap the Jap" or "Let's Blast the Jap Clean Off the Map".

In the United States and Canada, the term is now considered derogatory; Webster's Dictionary notes it is "usually disparaging". [ [http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/jap "Jap"] , "Webster's"] In the United Kingdom it is considered derogatory, and the Oxford dictionary defines it as offensive. [ [http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/jap?view=uk AskOxford: Jap ] ]

In 2003, the Japanese deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Yoshiyuki Motomurea, protested the North Korean ambassador's use of the term in retaliation for a Japanese diplomat's use of the term "North Korea" instead of the official name, "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" [Shane Green, [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/05/1068013255536.html Treaty plan could end Korean War] , The Age, November 6, 2003] .

In Texas, under pressure from civil rights groups, Jefferson County commissioners in 2004 decided to drop the name "Jap Road" from a 4.3-mile road near the city of Beaumont. Also in adjacent Orange County, "Jap Lane" has also been targeted by civil rights groups. [ [http://www.genocidewatch.org/JapRoadinTexas16July2004.htm Texas Community in Grip of a Kind of Road Rage ] ] The road was originally named for the contributions of Kichimatsu Kishi and the farming colony he founded.

Across the world

In Singapore [Power up with Jap lunch, "The New Paper", 18 May 2006] and Hong Kong, [http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/jas/deptinfo/deptinfo.htm] the term is used freely as a contraction of the adjective "Japanese". The Australian news service Asia Pulse also uses the term ["Chinese Capital Inflow to Leave Taiwan Vulnerable: Jap Newspaper". Asia Pulse. March 26, 2008.] In 1970, the Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada opened the "Jungle Jap" boutique in Paris. [William Wetherall, [http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/yosha/race/Jap_jappu_zyappu.html "Jap, Jappu, and Zyappu, The emotional tapestries of pride and prejudice"] , July 12, 2006.]

In Japan itself, most Japanese are apathetic about the term, according to a 2004 study.Gil Asakawa, [http://www.nikkeiview.com/blog/2004/07/18/japjapjapjapjapjapjap/ Nikkeiview: JapJapJapJapJapJapJap] , 18 July 2004]

ee also

* Anti-Japanese sentiment
* "Jjokbari", an anti-Japanese slur in the Korean language

References

External links

* [http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/jshoaf/Jdolls/jdollwestern/jappy2.htm Jap in literature]
* [http://www.ep.tc/howtospotajap U.S. Government publication on spotting Japs]