The word 'Gaijin'

[Kanji_The_Wanderer]

What bothers me is how some people can be so bothered by such a simple word. Words in themselves hold no true meaning, it's the action that follows. If "gaijin" means foreigner, then they are pointing out the obvious.

How can it be considered offensive if they are calling you what you are? Unless they were saying something else other then just calling you a foreigner, in other places calling someone a foreigner is no big deal, since that's what they are.

I have never heard the word gaijin being used to degrade someone.

If you can't call them foreigner, then what else would you call them? Immigrant? That can hold more insult then being called a foreigner, you could say traveler, but then not many people are referred to as travelers, unless they are seen all over the place.

[TalnSG]

Originally Posted by Asakura

It's not supposed to be derogatory. But kids can be cruel. A kid can make anything an insult.

The experience I've had with it is that it's a term to identify a forginer. I can be derogatory or not. Depending on the situation, person, anything.

It goes back to the old saying "It isn't what you say, It's how you say it"

Good point. While a child or someone referring to me as gaijin would simply be accurate, if I were touring outside of my own country, it could be said in such a tone - or with additional words - that could turn it quite insulting. Unlike like a racial epithet referred to earlier that can never be anything but insulting in public, I can use "tourist" very accurately and politely, but I can also use it with a connotation emphasizing the lack of knowledge which turns it into an insult.

[Akakage]

Anyone within hearing distance of the use of a racial epithet should be angry at the person using it, regardless of their own race.

Amen to that!

Now behold the power of Wikipedia! It explains the subject of Gaijin quite nicely.


Gaijin (外人, Gaijin? IPA: [ˈɡaɪʥin]) is a Japanese word meaning "foreigner" or "outsider".[1] The word is composed of gai (外, outside) and jin (人, person), so the word can be translated literally as "outside (foreign) person." The word can refer to nationality, race, ethnicity. Gaijin is regarded by some as a neutral or positive term, reflecting the status of Caucasian foreigners to which it is frequently applied.[2][3] In recent times, the word has become regarded by some as exclusionary[4] or derogatory[5][6][7] and thus offensive[8]. Because of this latter perception by some, the term has become somewhat politically incorrect and is avoided now by some in the Japanese media.

Gaijin and gaikokujin (外国人, gaikokujin?) are Japanese words meaning "foreigner." Gaikokujin (外国人) is composed of gaikoku (外国, foreign country) and jin (人, person), so the word literally means "foreign-country person." The word gaijin was initially not applied to foreigners. It is of ancient provenance and can be traced in writing back to Heike Monogatari, written early in the 13th century:

外人もなき所に兵具をとゝのへ [9]
Assembling arms where there are no gaijin

Here, gaijin is used to refer to outsiders[10][11] and potential enemies.[12] Another early reference is in Renri Hishō (c. 1349) by Nijō Yoshimoto, where it is used to refer to a (Japanese) person who is a stranger, not a friend.[12] Noh, Kurama tengu[13] also has a dialog:

源平両家の童形たちのおのおのござ候ふに、かやうの外 人は然るべからず候
Since the children of both Genji and Heike are here, such a gaijin is not appropriate to stay together.

Here, gaijin also means an outsider/stranger or an unknown/unfamiliar person.[14]

Historically, the Portuguese, the first Europeans to visit Japan, were known as nanbanjin (ja:南蛮人, "southern barbarians")[15]. When British and Dutch adventurers such as William Adams arrived in Japan fifty years later in the early 17th century, they were usually known as kōmōjin (ja:紅毛人, "red-haired people"), a term still used in the Min Nan (Taiwanese) dialect of Chinese today.

When the Tokugawa shogunate was forced to open Japan to foreign contact, Westerners were commonly referred to as ijin (ja:異人, "different people"), a shortened form of ikokujin (ja:異国人, "different country people") or ihōjin (ja:異邦人, "different motherland people"), terms previously used for Japanese from different feudal (that is, foreign) states.[citation needed] Keto (ja:毛唐), literally meaning "hairy Tang", was (and is) used as a pejorative for Chinese and Westerners.[16]

The word gaikokujin was only introduced and popularized by the Meiji government who united the feudal states in Japan as one nation, and this gradually replaced ijin, ikokujin and ihōjin. As the empire of Japan extended to Korea and Taiwan, the term naikokujin (ja:内国人, "inside country people") was used to refer to nationals of other territories of the Empire.[citation needed] While other terms fell out of use after World War II, gaikokujin remained as the official government term for non-Japanese people.

While all forms of the word mean "foreigner" or "outsider", in practice gaikokujin and gaijin commonly refer to racially different groups,[18] principally Caucasians.[19][20][21][22][23][2] However the term is also applied to ethnic Japanese born and raised in other countries.[24][25] Gaijin is also commonly used within Japanese professional wrestling to collectively refer to the visiting performers from the west who will frequently tour the country.[citation needed]

Japanese speakers commonly refer to non-Japanese as gaijin even while they are overseas. Also, people of Japanese descent native to other countries (especially those countries with large Japanese communities) might also call non-descendants gaijin, as a counterpart to nikkei.[24]

Historically, the word "gaijin" was a positive term, reflecting the high status, prestige and wealth of Caucasians.[26][27][28] This interpretation of the term as positive or neutral in tone continues for some.[2][3][8][29][30] However, though the term may be used without negative intent by many Japanese speakers,[4] it is seen as derogatory by some[31][32][33] and reflective of exclusionary attitudes.[4][22][34][35][29]

"While the term itself has no derogatory meaning, it emphasizes the exclusiveness of Japanese attitude and has therefore picked up pejorative connotations that many Westerners resent." Mayumi Itoh (1995)[8]

The term is avoided by mainstream Japanese media whenever possible.[35][36] Now that gaijin has become somewhat politically incorrect, it is common to refer to non-Japanese as gaikokujin.[22][36]

The term gaijin is also used as a form of address in some situations, in which case it is commonly combined with the routine honorific -san, roughly translated as "Mr" or "Ms." Gaijin-san may also be used as a more polite alternative to gaijin or gaikokujin.

Gaijin also appears frequently in Western literature and pop culture. It forms the title of such novels as Marc Olden's Gaijin (New York: Arbor House, 1986), James Melville's Go gently, gaijin (New York : St. Martin's Press, 1986), James Kirkup's Gaijin on the Ginza (London: Chester Springs, 1991) and James Clavell's Gai-Jin (New York: Delacorte Press, 1993), as well as a song by Nick Lowe. It is the title of feature films such as Tizuka Yamazaki's Gaijin - Os Caminhos da Liberdade (1980) and Gaijin - Ama-me Como Sou (2005), as well as animation shorts such as Fumi Inoue's Gaijin (2003). It is a recurring word in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), where it is used to refer to both the main character, an American, and his love interest.

[Henbaka]

Originally Posted by chachava

Of course it affects you, that isn't the point - the point is that my girlfriend doesn't like to hear people who stay in her country being spoken of in that manner. Much the same as you wouldn't like to hear anyone speaking ill of a family member

I don't like hearing Americans use the word 'Jap' but they say it quite a lot out here...are you saying I'm not allowed to be offended because I'm English?

So there is no difference between a family member and people from different places of the world as far as being offended by someone insulting them goes? (bear in mind most foreigners doesn't give two shits about hearing the word).

Anyways I agree with a previous poster - your GF just seems way too PC. Let the gaijins complain if they feel offended - not the japanese.

[MMM]

Maybe it's a Kansai thing but "gaijin" is the term used for non-Japanese. There are two kinds of people that live in Japan: Nihonjin and gaijin. I think of both words on the same level. Some translate "gaijin" as "hairy barbarian" and that is just ignorant.

I am going to go out on a limb and guess that those offended by the word "gaijin" probably have a lot of other issues with Japan as well.

[Ayame90]

Originally Posted by chachava

It originated as a derogatory slang term though... that is why. It's like black people calling themselves 'niggers' - it doesn't really carry the same weight now, but it originates from a far worse meaning

Black people do call themselves that, which in any degree is degrading. If for an instance there was a group of friends hanging out and one walked up and said "yo whatz up nigga", they find it to be okay, but in another scene a person of a different race where to say the same thing, they want to get angry and say negative things about that person, calling them racist and things. Its not right. I have witnessed it happen and have siad a few things to make the ones in the wrong think on what was said and done. Either way the word is degrading.

[TalnSG]

While I agree with MMM, I think Akakage may have just highlighted the source of the misunderstanding.

Originally Posted by Akakage

Amen to that!

Now behold the power of Wikipedia! It explains the subject of Gaijin quite nicely.
Gaijin (外人, Gaijin? IPA: [ˈɡaɪʥin]) is a Japanese word meaning "foreigner" or "outsider".

"Outsider" in English has its own negative connotation. Its not usually someone merely unfamiliar, but someone shut out from the rest. So if people saw "outsider" as the translation for gaijin, rather than merely foreigner, I could see where it would be misinterpreted.

[Nathan]

If not gaijin, then lets start calling everyone "nihon-kara-ja-nai-hito"!
Yes, that's how silly this argument is.

[SSJup81]

I personally hate it when blacks go around using the "n-word". It's embarrassing to our race, imo, that we use such a negative word amongst ourselves.

Originally Posted by Nathan

If not gaijin, then lets start calling everyone "nihon-kara-ja-nai-hito"!
Yes, that's how silly this argument is.

A "not Japanese person" or, "a not from Japan person" seems more right. lol

[tommasi]

All I can say at this point is that chachava's girlfriend is not alone.

I have met so many girls who claimed the same thing and all they had in common was they had lived abroad for a short period of time through working holiday visa and etc.

They only saw a positive aspect of life outside of Japan and decided that Japan is racist country.

I have lived outside of Japan for 10 years combined and maybe I experienced the same thing 9 years ago when I first returned to Japan.