Hafu Essay In Japan

Hafu is the term used in Japan to describe children of half Japanese descent. This term is derived from the english “ Half “ which indicates that a person is only half of the Japanese culture. According to hafujapanese.org this term originated in the 1970's and is now the most commonly used label for half Japanese children. Being called half might seem like an insult to some people, in Japan it is not really meant this way. In a YouTube video where Japanese got asked about what image they have about Hafu, most of them answered that they wanted to be a hafu as well. Most answers to this question were positive; they are pretty, they have long legs, they have the best of both worlds. While most Japanese seem to have positive views on what it is like to be a Hafu, research shows that they might not have a proper understanding of what it is like to be Hafu. So despite the positive image the Japanese have, life in Japan is not easy for people with mixed roots. Japan is a very homogenous country, where foreigners only make up 1.5% of the populace according to a research done in 2013. While the number might have risen quite a bit now in 2015, the discrimination against Hafu does not seem to have

Many adults reached out to eachother, to be able to open up and to create a community for themselves and their kids, who would grow up in a respectful, loving community. One girl in the documentary went to Japan after having lived in Austrialia for most of her life. The change of culture, and being treated as a foreigner all the time made her feel like she was not a part of Japan, even though she is half Japanese. The same thing could probably be said for foreigners living in Japan. Because no matter how long you live in Japan and how well you speak Japanese, you will always be treated like a foreigner (Hafu,