"japs" is what normal americans called the Japanese aggressors during world war II and when discussing that war. My father was in the north atlantic----on a navy ship during world war II-------he never got over calling german men "fritz"
which is no longer an appropriate term to use with regard to people.
so what was used almost 70 years ago is really irrelevant.
and frankly, anyone who uses words like that now is a jackass.
anyone who gets overly excited about nicknames used
in good humor----is a JACKASS. Words are defined and
should be taken in the context that they are used. Way
back when I was young----(long ago) Pakistanis I knew
used the word "paki" in good humor, easily, when SELF-
DESCRIBING. Lately I got told that the usage thereof is
RACIST. The worst word to throw at a person in the little
Nazi town in which I was a child was <COMMUNIST>