Detective Chief Inspector James Harold Japp is a fictional character of Scotland Yard appearing in many of Agatha Christie's novels and stories about Hercule Poirot.
[edit] Japp in Christie's work
Like those of Miss Lemon and Arthur Hastings, the role of Inspector Japp in Poirot's career has been exaggerated by adaptations of Christie's original novels; specifically by the TV series Agatha Christie's Poirot, where these characters are often introduced into stories that did not originally feature them. Japp's career in the Poirot novels extends into the 1930s but, like Hastings, he disappeared from Christie's writing thereafter. A police officer somewhat similar in character (Superintendent Spence) was introduced as a significant recurring character in the later Poirot novels.
[edit] Characteristics
James Japp, while being a serviceable detective, is no match for Poirot; he frequently finds himself a step behind the great detective but has developed a grudging respect for the man's abilities over their years together. Japp and Hastings often commiserate on their confusion and inability to keep up with Poirot on cases.
[edit] Portrayals on Film and TV
The role of Japp is played by Philip Jackson in the British TV series Agatha Christie's Poirot, where Hercule Poirot's character is played by David Suchet. Before Suchet took on the role of Poirot, he had previously played Japp himself in the 1985 film Thirteen at Dinner, where Peter Ustinov played Poirot. Philip Jackson also plays Japp alongside John Moffat's Poirot in an ongoing series of BBC Radio adaptations, produced contemporaneously with the Suchet TV series.
In the Japanese anime series Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple (NHK, 2004), Japp was renamed Inspector Sharp (シャープ警部, Shaapu-kebu?).
