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Here it comes...
 
07-20-2007
“Gaijin” for Laymen
Filed Under (Japanese Culture) by Mike

From Wikipedia:

The kanji characters that make up the word gaikokujin (外国人), taken individually, are soto or hoka (外, outside or other), kuni (国, country), and hito (人, person), so the literal meaning is “outside country (foreign) person”. Gaijin (外人), on the other hand, contains only the characters soto/hoka (外, outside/other) and hito (人, person), and hence literally means “outside person”.

Is “gaijin” a bad word?

NO!

This is a response to an article I read dated back to 2004 in Japan Times entitled “Foreign Branding.” The full article plus the comments is located here or here.

All right. So I have this site called “Gaijin-in-Japan.” Why would I have a site named so if I thought the word “gaijin” was bad?

Let me end this petty debate right here and now.

Foreign perspective is very clouded when it comes to eastern culture. It’s like mixing oil and water (or “mizu to abura” as a Japanese would say). Our thoughts of democracy, freedom and independence have encapsulated us giving a false sense of understanding. We as westerners believe categorization and meaning through scientific proof show, beyond any reasonable doubt, that which is true.

In laymen’s terms…we’re ignorant. If you ask a Japanese to point out the gaijin at a party, they’ll point to the white people. But there are Chinese and Korean there too.

Japanese mainly call foreigners “gaijin” (or more formally “gaikokujin”) when they cannot determine what country they are from.

It’s pretty obvious to an American who is Jewish, Mexican, Black (”gaijin?”), Asian (”gaijin?”) or Indian. Japanese have not had enough exposure to foreigners to decipher the differences between facial types. Thus the use of “gaijin.” Until there is another word to describe someone they cannot determine blah blah blah, then the word “gaijin” will stick. Do you have a better idea?

Ok ok. So you’re upset when the drunken salaryman sways in front of you on the train slurring what you think are gaijin insults. You take offense and feel you are being attacked. As has been said before: you’re a foreigner! Deal with it. If you don’t like it, then get off the boat.

“Waiter, can I have another beer and an order of karaage?”

     


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