Hāfu (ハーフ, "half") is a Japanese language term used to refer to a person ethnically half Japanese and half non-Japanese. A loanword from English, the term literally means "half," a reference to the individual's non-Japanese heritage. The word can also be used to describe anyone with mixed-racial ancestry in general. Japan remains one of the most homogeneous societies on the planet, which puts children of non-Japanese parents in a unique and difficult position, as they are called hāfu Japanese. Hāfu individuals are well represented in Japanese media and abroad, and recent studies in the 2010s estimate that 1 in 30 children born in Japan are born to interracial couples.