Job Discussion Forums

[luckbox]

I've heard the term frequently, but mostly only on boards like this, so I've never been sure how the Japanese (especially Japanese with foreign spouses and mixed racial kids) feel about it: hafu.

The reason I'm inquiring about this is because in my previous schools deep in the inaka I had almost no kids in my classes of obvious mixed background. Being closer to urban centres now, I suddenly am seeing lots. And I'm curious about their heritage. Is it cool to refer to a kid as hafu among your Japanese teacher colleagues? Example: "Hey NaniNani-Sensei, is Ryo hafu?" Or is it more tactful to phrase it: "Hey NaniNani-Sensei, is Ryo's mother or father from a foreign country?"

The very question seems weird to me and almost inappropriate, coming from a multi-cultural Western society. But Japan is one of the least ethnically diversified cultures on earth (something the Japanese seem quite proud of), so mixed families are racial anomolies, and therefore sources of curiosity. I also wonder how hafu kids are treated in schools. I recall in my previous inaka schools, one or two of these kids would float through the system now and again, and they were always made a big deal of by the Japanese teachers, which surely must have made the kid feel uncomfortable.

[Glenski]

I won't speak for others, but for me the term is not a problem. I understand it to be merely a Japanese loan word that they do not intend in a malicious or slanderous way, but merely to descibe the percentage of someone's nationality. I feel more ill will towards some people using the term "gaijin" than I do "half", but that's all in the intonation.

"Half" is not a word that I recognize as something "cool", either. It's just there.

Some people will respond with some resentment and call their children "double" as a means of verbal retaliation. That's just fine, but I think it's unnecessary. I mean, my own nationality is a mixture of more than 8 countries, but you don't see me calling myself an "octuple". My child has dual nationality for a while. If people want to label him as "double" for that reason, go ahead. To me, he just is what he is.

[Speed]

Please, call me `half`. Don`t call me `double`. It makes me sound like a fat guy.


Thank you.

[JimDunlop2]

I respectfully disagree with Glenski (I am aware his wife is Japanese, therefore his children are likewise part Japanese).

I think "hafu" is quite derogatory... I've only ever heard it used in a negative way, and only by young Japanese to boot. I've never heard it used in a polite setting, not have I heard older people use it. But that's just me...

We've invented words like bi-racial or bi-cultural, but I think your best bet IS to ask if a student's parents are from another country... At least, that is if it makes a difference to you. I find that in most of my classes, the kids with one foreign parent often don't speak any better English than anyone else -- unless they've spent significant time abroad in their parent's country of origin.

[Apsara]

What about "quarter"? One of my friends is 3 quarters Japanese, 1 quarter American. She is a model who sometimes appears in magazines and if they give her bio, the word quarter in katakana is often used- "Amerika-kei kuotaa". She doesn't seem to have a problem with it- she provides the bio, after all. Is "quarter" less derogatory than "half" I wonder?

[cafebleu]

There is no comparison with a model (a privileged position especially in Japan where image is so important) who is making the most of her American racial heritage in her career. This would give her a touch of the exotic to many Japanese and agencies/employers.

The child who is called "hafu" has no power to make that into something also exotic and interesting. Japanese children from day care to kindergarten and through to school are obsessed about fitting in. It happens everywhere in the world but Japan has a crueller price for people seen to be different.

This is so true of children's situation. Just watch the emphasis on conformity, control and all being the same in a day care place or a kindergarten. It's one of the unpleasant sides of Japanese life. Most children of one foreign parent who have some element of foreigner looks get stick from day one about how different they look. Even if the other kids are just being honest as children often are, it's not going to do much for the self esteem of a child in Japan.

Being different is always portrayed as something wrong or weak in bringing up and educating Japanese children. How do you think a child with one foreigner parent is going to cope with always being reminded they are different, even when teachers may be well meaning?

Sometimes the kid concerned responds by becoming anti-foreigner themselves - refusing to learn their parent's language, not wanting their parent to come along to events etc. There are children who can cope but I found in Japan those kinds of children usually (of course people such as Glenski and PaulH have children and could possibly tell me that their children cope well) are the ones from families with prestigious positions, mixing with the wealthy and other elites.

The usual "hafu" child is going to have a rough time in one way or another. When I taught at a kindergarten I used multi-racial cards for verb teaching. The kids in the card photos were white, Asian, Latino, and African American.

As kids do (not just Japanese kids) my class pounced on the facial differences and made remarks like "Kinoko!" (mushroom) for the white kids, and "Yappari Nihon jin" for the Asian kids who looked Chinese and Vietnamese to me. Thus far, fine. Children all over the world have direct ways of expression and their humour here wasn't a problem.

However, the African American pictures drew comments of "Gokiburi" (cckroach) from some of the kids. I made it clear that the comments weren't funny and explained simply in Japanese that as the class could see, there are many different people and children in the world. And using gokiburi for a black person was rude and not something to laugh at.

The kids didn't do it next time. However, if there had been a child of one African American parent or black parent from another country, at that kindergarten and any other in Japan, I think that child would have felt very much an outsider and possibly rejected in an obvious way.

If adults such as parents, teachers, and politicians didn't keep using terms such as "hafu" or "gaijin", children wouldn't feel stigmatised. All that language does is undermine their confidence and draw attention to the fact that they are different and will be accordingly kept in that category.

[callmesim]

I have an issue with it. I've heard it used a few times to describe people in the street "He's a hafu" and to me it just further creates the 'us and them' division in this country. The idea of a kid being born into a country, being a citizen of that country but having all the locals single you out really gets to me.

Being a working foreinger here, at least I can think that somewhere else in the world, there's a place I can feel like 'one of the crowd' but I wonder if that's possible for the mixed-raced Japanese.

I would be interested what people with experiences have to say about this.[/i]

[Nagoyaguy]

Put me in the "not a big fan ot the term" category. By saying "haafu", which part of the child are you referring to, and which part are you ignoring?

Plus, I wonder... does the term apply only to kids with a white parent? Lots of Brazilian kids around have one (ethnically pure) Japanese parent, and one Brazilian parent. Are they 'haafu' also? Or the kids with a Chinese or Korean parent?

My son confounds people. He always just says, "I'm Canadian" when people ask where he is from.

Socially, I dont think there is much stigma. IMHO, it gives kids a little breathing space. They may not be unde r as much pressure to conform to society as the 'pureblood' kids around them. The key is the parents. If they are supportive and all, the kids will pick up on it and act accordingly. If the parents are shy, 'dont stick out from thecrowd' types, the kids will have a rougher time.

[Sherri]

I have two "hafu" kids. I have to admit that I left Japan when the oldest was 3, partly because I was tired of the constant attention and comments. Whether the term is derogatory depends on who is saying it, why they are saying it and how they are saying it. In Hawaii there is a similar term, "hapa" but somehow it doesn't seem as bad here. I think it is because almost everyone is hapa here, so it is no big deal. It becomes a big deal in Japan because everyone likes to think they are "pure Japanese" and using the term "hafu" separates your child and makes him seem not as Japanese. Both of my kids were born in Japan and have Japanese nationality, but I am afraid that most of the people I came into contact with had a hard time with that reality.

Sherri

[Nagoyaguy]

I think you're right Sherri, that the term is used as a convenient way to keep people separated into their little groups. My son was born in Canada, but people are ALWAYS asking if he can speak Japanese. Hell, he came here when he was 4 years old, I should bloody hope he can speak the language. Especially after 6 years of schooling in it

[gaijinalways]

Actually, the interesting thing would be to see how many Japanese are 'really' Japanese. Just as you almost never find a pure blooded Englishman anymore, I doubt most Japanese can trace their ancestry back to living here on these islands.

[Like a Rolling Stone]

[luckbox]

[matador]

`Hafu` is just a Japanese-ed way of saying `half`.

Look, that child is `hafu'. So it just states a fact. Japanese have a habit of making these kind of easy to pronounce shortened words. I don`t think the more appropriate `blended heritage` tag is going to get much traction here!

If you lived in the US or EU, you might well hear Half-caste or Half-breed.

A lot of it is in the ear of the listener. If you want it be negative, you can. I just see it as a fact. A related question might be the use of the word 'Jap'.

Isn`t that just a shortened version of Japanese...?

[Like a Rolling Stone]

I think it is a bit strage. My Amercan friend is a honky but his mum is Canadian. If he says "watashi wa hafu desu" many Japanese will go "but you don't look." because only people with one japanese parent is hafu.