Path: news.ccsf.jp!tomockey.ddo.jp!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!border2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!nx02.iad01.newshosting.com!newshosting.com!post01.iad!news.shared-secrets.com!not-for-mail Date: Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:20:23 +0900 From: CL User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; en-US; rv:1.8.1.24) Gecko/20100411 Thunderbird/2.0.0.24 Mnenhy/0.7.6.666 MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: fj.life.in-japan Subject: Re: Hafu Project Night! References: <274043a8-bffa-425d-a9df-c11cfca78e4c@n37g2000prc.googlegroups.com> <0beccf29-eda8-4ebc-b790-e420f8ccee91@n37g2000prc.googlegroups.com> In-Reply-To: <0beccf29-eda8-4ebc-b790-e420f8ccee91@n37g2000prc.googlegroups.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 31 Message-ID: <4c05ce35$0$5487$8f2e0ebb@news.shared-secrets.com> Organization: Unknown X-Complaints-To: abuse@shared-secrets.com X-Original-Bytes: 2568 Xref: news.ccsf.jp fj.life.in-japan:169223 On 05/30/2010 09:19 PM, John W. wrote: > On May 29, 9:30 am, mtfes...@netMAPSONscape.net wrote: >> Scott Reynolds wrote: >>> Hello, Nishikura-san, >>> As you may have gathered from the response you received so far, >>> "haafu" is not considered by many English speakers to be an acceptable >>> word to use when referring to children who have one Japanese and one >>> non-Japanese parent. In fact, along with "mixed-race," which you also >>> use in your post, many people find the word "haafu" pretty insulting. >>> (This may be more the case for the parents than for the kids >>> themselves, but there it is.) >> >> Basically, the last sentence is correct; I hate the word, but it doesn't >> bother my kids at all. >> > I never thought of it as being in any way negative, but then I'm > raising my kid in the US, so maybe that's the difference. I figure > that since he is half Japanese it's relatively appropriate; I just > don't see why it's insulting. My only complaint is that haafu reminds > me of 'new haafu' and I'd prefer that association not exist. It bothers me A LOT, but I have a note from my parents. I'm part Seneca (Iroquois / Algonquin) which meant absolutely nothing on the East Coast where I was born, but seemed to be Dreadfully Important in Minnesota where I grew up, thanks to the Sioux (who seem to screw up everything they ever try). My immediate family all have light skin, blue eyes, and blond hair, but I have some cousins who look like they're on day release from the Reservation. -- CL