Chief Inspector Japp

James Japp
Philip Jackson as Japp
First appearance	The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Last appearance	One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
Created by	Agatha Christie
Portrayed by	Philip Jackson David Suchet Maurice Denham
Information
Occupation	Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard
Nationality	British

Detective Chief Inspector James Japp (later Assistant Commissioner Japp) is a fictional character who appears in several of Agatha Christie's novels featuring Hercule Poirot.

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.

Japp appears in Christie's stage play Black Coffee, written in 1929. He remarks to Poirot that it has been a "long time" since they last met, in connection with "that Welsh case", which is not otherwise identified.

Inspector Japp is also briefly mentioned in the Tommy and Tuppence book The Secret Adversary; his card is brought to Julius Hersheimmer at the end of chapter five.

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 has been depicted in seven novels written by Christie, all featuring Hercule Poirot:

Japp was mentioned by Colonel Weston in Evil Under the Sun, the next book in the Poirot series after his final appearance. Japp is also mentioned in the novel "Taken at the Flood" by Superintendent Spence during a conversation with Hercule Poirot.

In most of these appearances, Japp is a minor character with minimal interactions with Poirot or involvement in the plot. However, Japp emerges as a major character and partner to Poirot in Lord Edgware Dies. He returns in this capacity in Death in the Clouds and One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, before being written out of the series. In number of appearances, Japp is comparable to Arthur Hastings who was featured in eight of the Poirot novels.

Japp also appears in Charles Osborne's novelisation of Christie's 1929 stage play Black Coffee.