Is the word ハーフ derogatory?


Is the term ハーフ (mixed-race Japanese/other) derogatory? Can you use it in a
newspaper article? Can you use it to describe your boss? If it is derogatory,
what word(s) should one use instead?




As an American, it strikes me as _incredibly_ offensive. After all, half is
[even less than three-fifths](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-
fifths_compromise).

That being said, ハーフ is a perfect example of [wasei-
eigo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasei-eigo); a Japanese word based on
English which a native English speaker would either find odd or not be able to
make sense of at all. The context that a Japanese person is going to have when
using the English word "half" to describe a person is going to be far
different than yours or mine. I doubt that most people who use this word are
even aware that it means something other than "mixed-race person" in English
(and it doesn't even mean that unless you add more words to it).

So in that context, when spoken by most Japanese people, it is not intended to
be derogatory; nor are half Japanese people particularly derided by society.
[Here's some
interviews](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi2r23e7fpA&feature=channel_video_title)
where Japanese are asked about their thoughts on ハーフ, and they are mostly
positive (though given that one of the interviewees looks clearly non-100%
Yamato, make of that what you will), and I can hardly turn on the TV nowadays
without seeing half-British tarento-du-jour
[ベッキー](http://www.becky.ne.jp/index.php) playing with bunnies or going "へぇぇぇぇ"
over a video clip. (If you've never been to Japan, note that roughly two-
thirds of Japanese TV is people going "へぇぇぇぇ" over a video clip.)

All that being said, if I end up marrying a Japanese woman and someone calls
my kids ハーフ, I would politely ask them to not do so, then change the topic
quickly.




I am ハーフ, and for what it's worth the term has never caused me to take
offense, nor did it seem like any was ever intended. When I was in elementary
school in Japan, if I got into scuffles, the preferred label was 外人, though
not even that is necessarily offensive outside of the context of a schoolyard
spat.

In short, if you aren't immediately offended by the term, I wouldn't think
your way into being so.

