Read the excerpt below and answer the question. in town, they would not sell to japs. why did mirikitani choose to use the word “japs” in the third line of this excerpt from “attack the water”? that is how she and her family referred to themselves. she needed fewer syllables to fit the rhythm of the poem. that was the derogatory term that others called her family. she wanted the poem to be an accurate portrayal of her family.