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| Japanese cartoonist Reiji Yamada defined "asupe" as an "intelligent but weird person." Early this month he suggested to Nico Nico News that L from Japanese comics and the movie franchise "Death Note" was a representative example of the term. / Korea Times file |
By Eom Da-sol
Japanese netizens in their 20s to 30s are using the term "asupe" to refer to a mentally disabled person or "those who behave differently from the majority." But recently, the public realized a shocking fact: the term refers to the developmental disorder "Asperger's syndrome."
A person with the syndrome has difficulty with social interaction and non-verbal communication, and has repetitive behavior patterns.
Hoshino Gainen, a psychiatrist and a writer from Japanese publishing company Bungeishunju, found the origin of "asupe" and warned his readers not to use the term.
"It is inadequate to connect this word to a negative meaning and use in daily life," Hoshino said in an article on Apr. 22.
He explained that two kinds of people used the term: those who understood the syndrome as its origin and those who did not and used the word as a trendy term.
"The former users should not hastily diagnose someone as ‘asupe' simply because they are different from the majority," he said. "Medical terminology requires a professional background. Even doctors use it with care not to make a misdiagnosis.
"The latter users just use the term without understanding its true meaning. They should not be excused unless they know about the term's link to the disorder."
Hoshino emphasized that those with the syndrome and their family members would be shocked if they heard about the term.
"Asupe would not have been used in the first place unless the people knew the true meaning of it," he said.
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