Half Japanese is an American art punk band formed by brothers Jad and David Fair in 1974,[1] after their family's relocation to Uniontown, Maryland.

[4] The band played and recorded as a duo until the early 1980s, when they began incorporating additional members into the group: Mark Jickling (guitar and vocals) and brothers Ricky and John Dreyfuss (drums and saxophone).

Since that time, dozens of musicians have come and gone under the Half Japanese banner, including Howard Wuelfing, Don Fleming and Jay Spiegel both from the band Velvet Monkeys, and Shockabilly bass player and Shimmy Disc impresario Mark Kramer among others.

This incarnation featured guitarist/multi-instrumentalist John Sluggett (also a longtime member of Moe Tucker's band), multi-instrumentalist Jason Willett, Mick Hobbs, and drummer Gilles Reider.

Since then, the group has worked with Moe Tucker from The Velvet Underground, who produced and performed on Fire in the Sky (1992), as well as The Band That Would Be King (1989), and with Fred Frith, and John Zorn, among others.