Jap
330979
225215950
2008-07-12T14:38:44Z
SmackBot
433328
Date the maintenance tags or general fixes
{{POV|date=July 2008}}
{{otheruses|JAP}}
'''Jap''' is a term originally used as an English abbreviation of the word "[[Japan]]ese." 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. <ref name="jref">Gil Asakawa, [http://www.jref.com/nikkeiview/jap.shtml Nikkeiview: JapJapJapJapJapJapJap], 18 July 2004</ref>
In the past, Jap was not considered primarily offensive; however, after the events of [[World War II]], the term became derogatory.<ref name="Fussell">[[Paul Fussell]], ''Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War,'' Oxford University Press, 1989, p. 117.</ref>
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==
[[Image:JAPS QUIT.jpg|thumb|right|Newspaper headlines announcing [[V-J Day|Japanese surrender]] in [[World War II]]]]
The first recorded use of Jap was in 1860 to refer to members of the [[Japan]]ese embassy in the [[United States]]. An example of benign usage was the previous naming of [[Boondocks Road]] in [[Jefferson County, Texas|Jefferson County]], [[Texas]], originally named "Jap Road" when it was built in 1905 to honor a popular local rice farmer from Japan.<ref>[http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_tol.jsp?id=1034 Tolerance.org: Texas County Bans 'Jap Road'<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
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]]."<ref name="Fussell"/>Some in the [[United States Marine Corps]] also tried to combine the word "Japs" with "[[Ape]]s" to create a new description, "Japes", for the Japanese. However, this new word never became popular.<ref name="Fussell"/> 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 [[slogan]]s like "Rap the Jap" or "Let's Blast the Jap Clean Off the Map."<ref name="Fussell"/>
In the [[United States]] and [[Canada]], the term is now considered derogatory; [[Webster's Dictionary]] notes it is "usually disparaging."<ref>[http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/jap "Jap"], ''Webster's''</ref> In the [[United Kingdom]] it is considered derogatory, and the Oxford dictionary defines it as offensive.<ref>[http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/jap?view=uk AskOxford: Jap<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
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"<ref>Shane Green, [http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/11/05/1068013255536.html Treaty plan could end Korean War], The Age, November 6, 2003</ref>.
In [[Texas]], under pressure from civil rights groups, [[Jefferson County, Texas|Jefferson County]] commissioners in 2004 decided to drop the name "Jap Road" from a 4.3-mile road near the city of [[Beaumont, Texas|Beaumont]]. Also in adjacent [[Orange County, Texas|Orange County]], "Jap Lane" has also been targeted by civil rights groups.<ref>[http://www.genocidewatch.org/JapRoadinTexas16July2004.htm Texas Community in Grip of a Kind of Road Rage<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The road was originally named for the contributions of [[Kichimatsu Kishi]] and the farming colony he founded.
==Across the World==
[[Image:Jap sign Singapore.jpg|thumb|right|Sign advertising 'Jap Rice' in Singapore]]
In Singapore<ref>Power up with Jap lunch, The New Paper, 18 May 2006</ref> 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<ref>Chinese Capital Inflow to Leave Taiwan Vulnerable: Jap Newspaper, Asia Pulse, 26 March 2008</ref>.
In 1970, the Japanese fashion designer Kenzo Takada opened the "Jungle Jap" boutique in Paris<ref>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], 12 July 2006</ref>.
In Japan itself, most Japanese are apathetic about the term, according to a 2004 study<ref name="jref">Gil Asakawa, [http://www.jref.com/nikkeiview/jap.shtml Nikkeiview: JapJapJapJapJapJapJap], 18 July 2004</ref>. The domain JAP.COM is currently registered to a Kato Takahiro and runs from a server based in Japan<ref>http://whois.domaintools.com/jap.com, accessed 1 June 2008 5:00 GMT</ref>.
==See also==
* [[Anti-Japanese sentiment]]
* ''[[Jjokbari]]'', an anti-Japanese slur in the Korean language
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{wiktionarypar|Jap}}
* [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]
[[Category:Asian American issues]]
[[Category:Ethnic and religious slurs]]
[[Category:Anti-Japanese sentiment]]
[[Category:Anglo-Japanese relations]]
[[Category:Japanese-American relations]]
[[ko:잽]]
[[ja:ジャップ]]