Use of the word 'Jap' - is it offensive?

niko2x wrote:gaijin? to me it doesn't matter because being asian, i can sorta blend in until my non native JPNese comes out. also because i'm asian, i'm not REALLY considered gaijin/gaijin-san.

So you're passing?

Heh, works for me. :thumbsup:

niko2x wrote:gaijin? to me it doesn't matter because being asian, i can sorta blend in until my non native JPNese comes out. also because i'm asian, i'm not REALLY considered gaijin/gaijin-san.

I've been called gaijin, even though I may appear to look japanese on the outside... of course that is thrown out the window until they hear me speaking english to my friend.
One time, while passing by a store, i asked my friend to ask the clerk for a poster hanging in the window. I also asked the clerk in english. and the clerk looked surprised, and asked my friends, "is she a gaijin?"

Another time, my friends were introducing me to someone, and mentioned that i was a gaijin. i heard her and said..."no, im not a gaijin..."

I don't really care, if i am called gaijin or not. It only happens when i speak English, and then they are surprised that i am NOT japanese. I enjoy looking at the expressions that they make.

Even funnier is when japanese people in the SF bay area talk to each other and call americans "gaijin." When in fact, they (the japanese people) are "gaijin" here.

amrayu wrote:It only happens when i speak English, and then they are surprised that i am NOT japanese. I enjoy looking at the expressions that they make.

LOL. Same here. When I was in Honolulu, the maitre'd at a restaurant started speaking to me in Japanese, and he turned beet red after discovering I spoke English... I patted him on the back and said "don't worry about it.." :hehe:

what's a "gaijin" ? :sweat:

oh ok, a term refrence to a foreigner perhaps? :sweat:

Foreigner, outside person. It's use doesn't seem to be any worse than when Americans use the word foreigner for foreigners. I've heard of some Americans in Europe calling Europeans foriegners.... It seems to be a semi-common thing everywhere. I don't really get a racist vibe from it...it's more like an overused statement to identify that your not Japanese. I've never heard the Japanese students at the college campuses I went to refer to any Americans as gaijin though.... No experiences like KouSeiya for me.... :puppydog:

kitakaze wrote:I've never heard the Japanese students at the college campuses I went to refer to any Americans as gaijin though....

That would be weird since they're in the States and they're the gaijin... :)

bmwracer wrote:
That would be weird since they're in the States and they're the gaijin... :)

it happens... it's their group consciousness way of thinking... :bleh:

Haha, I asked one of my Japanese friends about "the group," and she's like "what?" She always tells me it depends on the person.

i think the japanese that still have that "group consciousness" way of thinking, usually are fresh off the boat and it's their first time in America.

Many times, when i'm hanging out with my japanese friends some of the newer people know that i'm american so, they start talking about me in japanese.... :bleh: then my friends have to tell them that i understand. then they look surprised... and i reply "yes! i understand!"

Hmmm...maybe I haven't seen that here because most of the Japanese that come to the local junior college do it on their own. Most of their friends are the other international students, a good mix of Taiwanese, mainland Chinese, and South Korean, as well as Japanese. Hence, they all need to communicate in English :mrgreen: . Er...except for the Taiwanese and mainland Chinese....

bmwracer wrote:
LOL. Same here. When I was in Honolulu, the maitre'd at a restaurant started speaking to me in Japanese, and he turned beet red after discovering I spoke English... I patted him on the back and said "don't worry about it.." :hehe:

What restaurant was this? When did this happen? Not to say I don't believe your story, 'racer, but, I've been to the Alan Wong's, the Sam Choy's, the Gyutaku's, et al. If anything, the help there will start talking in English to EVERYBODY (quite a number of East Asian tourists'll go there to eat, best believe) and go from there.

I also have a buncha' friends working in the non-stop hotel industry here in the islands. Even those of 'em who speak fluent Japanese'll start talking to tourists in English.

So, I dunno, from my experience, doesn't seem to be a big deal from my point-of-view, that li'l mistake of that maitre'd's. If most Japanese tourists are anything like my friends from Japan (who are many, not to brag, just stating a fact here), they're actually happy that you start talking to 'em in English while they're visiting here on the 'aina.

Anyway, I just wanted to know which restaurant? :)

The Man wrote:What restaurant was this? When did this happen? Not to say I don't believe your story, 'racer, but, I've been to the Alan Wong's, the Sam Choy's, the Gyutaku's, et al. If anything, the help there will start talking in English to EVERYBODY (quite a number of East Asian tourists'll go there to eat, best believe) and go from there.

I also have a buncha' friends working in the non-stop hotel industry here in the islands. Even those of 'em who speak fluent Japanese'll start talking to tourists in English.

So, I dunno, from my experience, doesn't seem to be a big deal from my point-of-view, that li'l mistake of that maitre'd's. If most Japanese tourists are anything like my friends from Japan (who are many, not to brag, just stating a fact here), they're actually happy that you start talking to 'em in English while they're visiting here on the 'aina.

Anyway, I just wanted to know which restaurant? :)

Hmm, considering it was nearly nine years ago, I can't rightly recall... I do sorta remember that the restaurant had this big ol' indoor aquarium with an occasional diver inside, but that might've been somewhere else....

I would have to agree that the word Jap is offensive. I know that my mother (full Japanese) and I take offense to it. The word itself just sounds negative. My 2 cents.

OMG that word is sooooo offensive it's unspeakable.

I haven't had the experience of being called a gaijin yet, altho its pretty obvious because I am not ethnically Asian. Once Japanese people figure out I can speak some Japanese they get weirded out and never stop telling me that I am more Japanese then they are. After reading Dorinne Kondo's book on the old middle class I figured this is a tactic they subconciously are ingrained with, which promotes more obedience. I think "Otaku" is much more offensive to them than Gaijin. I learned the hard way to never tell a Nihonjin that you are an Otaku, American Otaku's and Japanese Otaku's are entirely different! And Japanese from Japan probably have no idea about the "Jap" racist slur we use, unless we tell them. They probably would use it themselves since they like to shorten words like crazy. :P

With all do respect to personal-national-racial-and other feelings... and of corurse big IMHO...
Every nation,rase,ethnic group//well, in-general any group of people has some word it considers offensive. Now, let's multiply it on cultural habbits by other groups.. Example: word "Negr" in Russian referrs to people of African descend, and is not considered offensive - it used in same conotation like "black" in, say, US. On contrary, word "cherny" (meaning "black") is very bad (offensive nickname of guys from southern regions)
As a result, pretty much anybody could be offended by anything The only solution I see is to shut down stupid political correctness and take it easy.

As a result, pretty much anybody could be offended by anything The only solution I see is to shut down stupid political correctness and take it easy.

I agree - take brit for instance. People all over the world use it to refer to the British. They don't realize that it's a derogatory term used in Northern Ireland, as in "brits out". So yes, the best thing is to take it easy and not get upset (unless someone is using these terms in a racist manner on purpose)

Having said that, I would never use a word like 'jap' and suggest people avoid using it in forums just out of respect for people who are offended by it.

zelie wrote:Having said that, I would never use a word like 'jap' and suggest people avoid using it in forums just out of respect for people who are offended by it.

There you go. That's the bottom line. :thumbsup:

But it's totally insane when people freak out if you ask, for example "does anyone know some good jap songs?". This is obviously just an abreviation and has nothing to do with rascism. People should take it easy indeed...

supermidget wrote:But it's totally insane when people freak out if you ask, for example "does anyone know some good jap songs?". This is obviously just an abreviation and has nothing to do with rascism. People should take it easy indeed...

Yeah, but people should also be sensitive to others feelings and cultural differences...