If you’ve spent any time online with JP folks you’ll know that words like hafu/daburu/ainoko are all contested and comfort with the terms depend greatly from person to person. We will never have a comfortable word to accurate describe all people with one Japanese parent*.

As much as possible you should use the words that an individual is comfortable with. I believe the best descriptor is “mixed Japanese” when you don’t know. Yes, this applies to fictional characters too. All the above terms were not coined by mixed Japanese people.

As for the word hapa, I have never used this word as it doesn’t come from Japanese, but it’s my understanding that many JP diaspora areas especially in Hawai’i and North America have used this word for generations. I don’t personally think it’s appropriate but I’m just me.

The confusing thing about all these terms is they generally stem from a 50/50 split, but I don’t care for percentages. I’m 100% Japanese and 100% American. My kids will be the same when I have them. There are many people with 3 or more heritages.

Basically, I’m cool with other mixed Japanese people calling me hafu or daburu, but if you’re not, please call me mixed Japanese. In Japanese I’m cool with ミックス or 混血!