Hāfu

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Hāfu (ハーフ, "half") is a Japanese language term used to refer to a person of half Japanese and half non-Japanese ancestry. A loanword from English, the term literally means "half," a reference to the individual's non-Japanese heritage.[1][2][3][4] The word can also be used to describe anyone with mixed-racial ancestry in general. As Japan is considered one of the most homogeneous societies on the planet, children who have one non-Japanese parent are called hāfu Japanese and often face prejudice and discrimination from Japanese citizens of full Japanese descent.[5] Hāfu individuals are well represented in Japanese media and abroad, and recent studies in the 2010s estimate that 1 in 30 children born in Japan are born to interracial couples.[6]

In Japanese

In other languages

History

Prehistoric to feudal Japan

Hāfu refers to a person who has one ethnic Japanese parent and one non-ethnic Japanese parent. The term ethnic Japanese refers to the Indigenous

Ryukyuans were mostly assimilated into the Yamato population. Mixed race couples and thus hāfu people were rare in feudal Japan
. There were mixed Asian couples between ethnic Japanese and other East and Southeast Asian peoples.

The most well-regarded theory is that present-day Yamato Japanese are descendants of both the Indigenous Jōmon people and the immigrant Yayoi people.[11] The Yayoi were an admixture (1,000 BCE–300 CE) of migrants from East Asia, mostly China and the Korean peninsula.

Modern mainland Yamato Japanese have less than 20% Jomon people's genomes.[12] In modern Japan, the term Yamato minzoku is seen as antiquated for connoting racial notions that have been discarded in many circles since Japan's surrender in World War II.[13] The term "Japanese people" or even "Japanese-Japanese" are often used instead.[14]

Genetic and

Ryukyuans' distinct culture was suppressed by the Meiji government and faced forced assimilation.[22]

Early modern period

Edo period (1603–1867)

Koxinga was a Chinese monarch who was hāfu Japanese

English sailor

William Adams, a navigator for the Dutch East India Company, settled in Japan in April 1600. He was ultimately granted the rank of samurai, one of the few non-Japanese to do so. He wed Oyuki (お雪), a Japanese woman and together, they had two children, Joseph and Susanna, who were hāfu.[23]

Chinese military leader Chenggong Zheng, historically known as Koxinga (1624–1662), was hāfu, born in Japan to a Japanese mother and Chinese father and raised there until the age of seven, known by the Japanese given name, Fukumatsu.[24]

Modern period

Meiji, Taishō and pre-war Shōwa period (1868–1945)

Since 1899, the Ainu were increasingly marginalized. During a period of only 36 years, the Ainu went from being a relatively isolated group of people to having their land, language, religion and customs assimilated into those of the Japanese.[25] Intermarriage between Japanese and Ainu was actively promoted by the Ainu to lessen the chances of discrimination against their offspring. As a result, many Ainu are indistinguishable from their Japanese neighbors, but some Ainu Japanese are interested in traditional Ainu culture.[26]

The first visible usage of the term Hāfu dates to 1930, in the novel Machi No Kokusai Mune (街の國際娘, lit. International Girl in the City) by Japanese author Touma Kitabayashi(北林 透馬). In the chapter Minato no Sakaba no Ainoko Odoriko(港の酒場の混血児踊り子, lit. The Dancing In-Between Child at the Harbour Bar) the furigana Hāfu is used as a synonym for the term "konketsuji" predating the appearance of Hāfu in dictionaries, which would not occur until after 1973.[27]

Contemporary period

Shōwa period (post-war) (1945–1989)

The presence of the United States Armed Forces in Japan and Asia saw the birth of many children born to American fathers; these children were called Amerasians. It's estimated that by 1952, anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 Japanese children were fathered by American servicemen, with many of the children placed for adoption by their Japanese mothers due to the stigma of out-of-wedlock pregnancy and miscegenation and the struggles of supporting a child alone in post-war Japan.[28][29]

One orphanage, Seibo Aijien (聖母愛児園, Seibo Aijien, Our Lady of Lourdes Orphanage), in Yokohama, run by Franciscan nuns, opened in 1946. By 1948, staff members were caring for 126 children fathered by American servicemen, by 1950 and 136 children.[28][29] A letter, dated 1948, detailed an incident of a malnourished infant born to a Japanese teenager whose American father refused to support for fear his wife would learn of his extramarital affair.[30] The Elizabeth Saunders Home opened in Ōiso by a Japanese woman named Miki Sawada, cared for more than 700 Amerasian children, none of whom were visited or supported by their American fathers.[30]

Heisei period (1989–2019)

Haitian
/ Japanese)
Vivi as often as newsreaders or celebrities. The appearance of hāfu in the media has provided the basis for such a vivid representation of them in the culture.[32][33] As of 2018, it is estimated that 30% to 40% of runway models in Japanese fashion shows identify as hafu.[34] Most top models in their 20s of popular Japanese fashion magazines are hafu.[34]

One of the earliest terms referring to half Japanese was ainoko, meaning a child born of a relationship between two races. It is still used in Latin America, most prominently Brazil (where spellings such as ainoco, ainoca (f.) and ainocô may be found), to refer to mestizo (broader term in Hispanic America for mixed race in general) or mestiço people of some Japanese ancestry. In Brazil, amarela (yellow) is generally used for people of East Asian origin.

The former term evolved to be an umbrella term for Eurasian or mixed East Asian/mestizo, East Asian/African, East Asian/Arab and East Asian/indigenous heritage in general. At the same time it is possible for people with little Japanese or other East Asian ancestry to be perceivable just by their phenotype to identify mostly as black, white or mestizo/pardo instead of ainoko, while people with about a quarter or less of non-East Asian ancestry may identify on the Brazilian census as being amarela ("yellow" or East Asian).

Soon this too became a taboo term due to its derogatory connotations such as illegitimacy and discrimination. What were central to these labels were the emphasis on "blood impurity" and the obvious separation of the half Japanese from the majority of Japanese. Some English-speaking parents of children of mixed ethnicity use the word "double."[35] Amerasian is another term for children of mixed ancestry, especially those born to Japanese mothers and U.S. military fathers.

Of the one million children born in Japan in 2013, 2.2% had one or more non-Japanese parent.[70] According to the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, one in forty-nine babies born in Japan today are born into families with one non-Japanese parent.[36] Most intermarriages in Japan are between Japanese men and women from other Asian countries, including China, the Philippines and South Korea.[37] Southeast Asia also has significant populations of people with half Japanese ancestry, particularly in the Philippines.[38][39]

In the 21st century, stereotyping and discrimination against hāfu occurs based on how different their identity, behavior and appearance is from a typical Japanese person.[34] Some experience negative treatment such as being teased or bullied in junior high school, treated like foreigners or stereotyped as bilingual and models.[34] However, being mixed is increasingly seen as cool.[34] The hafu of international marriages between Japanese and other Asians tend to blend in easier in Japanese society. They can have a bicultural identity. Their foreign side could be suppressed in Japan's homogeneous culture.

Smile (スマイル, Sumairu) is a

TBS from April to June 2009. Jun Matsumoto plays the lead role of Vito, a half-Filipino, half-Japanese man who always smiles despite all of the problems and difficulties he faces. The series focused on foreigners and mixed race children who suffered from racism.[40][41]
[42]

The documentary film Hafu: The Mixed-Race Experience in Japan was released in April 2013. It is about the experiences of five hāfu living in Japan. It deals with issues of identity, multiculturalism, relationships, hardship and stereotyping that they face.[43][44]

In September 2018, Naomi Osaka is the first Japanese woman and hāfu to contest a Grand Slam singles final and the first Japanese Grand Slam singles champion. Naomi Osaka is the winner of the 2018 US Open Women's Singles.[45][46]

Reiwa period (2019–)

Due to low birthrate, the population of Japan is aging significantly. As of 2019, the fertility rate stood at 1.36 children per woman, far below the 2.1 children per woman required to maintain the same level of population. Japan had 126.5 million people in 2018, with Japanese nationals numbering 124.8 million in January 2019.[47][48] Currently, 1 in 4 Japanese residents are over the age of 65, meaning that if the birthrate does not increase, one-third of the population will be above this age by 2050.[49]

The percentage of hāfu is increasing, but the group is still a minority in Japan. The Government of Japan regards all naturalized Japanese citizens and native-born Japanese nationals with multi-ethnic backgrounds as Japanese, with no official ethnicity census data.[50][51]

Notable hāfu individuals

Hāfu in popular culture

See also

References

  1. ^ Krieger, Daniel (29 November 2010). "The whole story on being 'hafu'". CNN. Archived from the original on 3 December 2010. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
  2. Japan Times. Archived
    from the original on 2011-12-01. Retrieved 2011-04-12.
  3. from the original on 2011-12-16. Retrieved 2011-04-12.
  4. ^ Fujioka, Brett (14 January 2011). "The Other Hafu of Japan". Rafu Shimpo. Archived from the original on 2011-01-22. Retrieved 2011-04-12.
  5. ^ "Japan's hafu stars are celebrated. But some mixed-race people say they feel like foreigners in their own country". 23 September 2020.
  6. ^ "Being 'hafu' in Japan: Mixed-race people face ridicule, rejection". America.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  7. ^ Jozuka, Emiko (23 September 2020). ""Japan's hafu stars are celebrated. But some mixed-race people say they feel like foreigners in their own country"". CNN. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  8. ^ Saberi, Roxana (9 September 2015). ""Being 'hafu' in Japan: Mixed-race people face ridicule, rejection"". AlJazeera. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
  9. ^ Writers, YABAI (28 June 2017). "Hafu's in Japan: Interesting Facts About Japan's Mixed Race Population | YABAI – The Modern, Vibrant Face of Japan". YABAI. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  10. ^ "What is Japinoy?". 25 April 2007.
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  16. ^ Hendrickx 2007, p. 65.
  17. ^ Serafim 2008, p. 98.
  18. ^ Robbeets 2015, p. 26.
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  21. ^ Kumar, Ann. (2009). Globalizing the Prehistory of Japan: Language, Genes and Civilisation. London and New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. Page 79 & 88. Retrieved January 23, 2018, from link.
  22. ^ Masami Ito (12 May 2009). "Between a rock and a hard place". The Japan Times. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  23. ^ Hiromi Rogers (2016). Anjin – The Life and Times of Samurai William Adams, 1564–1620. p. 121. ASIN 1898823227. Adams' marriage with Yuki was arranged by Mukai Shogen, authorised by the Shogun. There is no official record that Magome Kageyu had a daughter, and it is believed that he adopted Yuki, his maid, for marrying to Adams and to advance his own trading activities. Primary source Nishiyama Toshio – Aoime-no-sodanyaku, leyasu-to-Anjin.
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  28. ^ a b "児童養護施設 聖母愛児園". 児童養護施設 聖母愛児園 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-01-24.
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  42. ^ "松潤フィリピンとのハーフ役でドラマ主演" (in Japanese). Nikkan Sports. Archived from the original on 2009-02-13. Retrieved 2015-06-23.
  43. ^ "Documentary shows hardships of mixed-race individuals in Japan – AJW by The Asahi Shimbun". Ajw.asahi.com. Archived from the original on 2013-10-13. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
  44. ^ Shoji, Kaori (2013-10-03). "Double the trouble, twice the joy for Japan's hafu". The Japan Times. Archived from the original on 2013-10-28. Retrieved 2013-10-20.
  45. ^ Newman, Paul (September 7, 2018). "Naomi Osaka becomes first Japanese woman to reach a Grand Slam final". Evening Standard. Retrieved September 10, 2018.
  46. ^ Kane, David. "Osaka stuns Serena, captures first Grand Slam title at US Open". WTA Tennis. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
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  51. ^ Emiko Jozuka and Vivien Jones. "Many hafu stars are celebrated in Japan. But for normal mixed-race people it can be a different story". CNN.

Bibliography

Further reading

External links

List includes archived websites.

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