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?
Answer
As an American, it strikes me as incredibly offensive. After all, half is even less than three-fifths.
That being said, ハーフ is a perfect example of 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 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 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.
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