Gaijin (外人,[ɡai(d)ʑiɴ]; 'outsider,alien') is aJapanese word for foreigners and non-Japanese citizens in Japan, specifically being applied to foreigners of non-Japanese ethnicity and those from theJapanese diaspora who are not Japanese citizens.[1] The word is composed of twokanji:gai (外, 'outside') andjin (人, 'person'). Similarly composed words that refer to foreign things includegaikoku (外国, 'foreign country') andgaisha (外車, 'foreign car'). Though the term can be applied to all foreigners of non-Japanese citizenship and ethnicity, some non-Japanese East Asians may have specific terminology used instead.[2][3][4][5][6][1]
Some feel the word has come to have a negative orpejorative connotation,[7][8][9][10][11][12] while other observers maintain it is neutral.[13]Gaikokujin (外国人,[ɡaikokɯꜜ(d)ʑiɴ]; 'foreign-country person') is a more neutral and somewhat more formal term widely used in the Japanese government and in media.Gaijin does not specifically mean a foreigner that is also a white person; instead, the termhakujin (白人 'white person') can be considered as a type of foreigner, andkokujin (黒人 'black person') would be the black equivalent.
The wordgaijin can be traced in writing to the 13th-centuryHeike Monogatari:
外人もなき所に兵具をとゝのへ[14]
Assembling arms where there are nogaijin[note 1]
Here,gaijin refers to outsiders[15][16] and potential enemies.[17] Another early reference is inRenri Hishō (c. 1349) byNijō Yoshimoto, where it is used to refer to a Japanese person who is a stranger, not a friend.[17] TheNoh play,Kurama tengu[18] has a scene where a servant objects to the appearance of a traveling monk:
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
Agaijin doesn't belong here, where children from the Genji and Heike families are playing.
Here,gaijin also means an outsider or unfamiliar person.[19]
ThePortuguese in the 16th century were the first Europeans to visit Japan; they were callednanbanjin ('southern barbarians'),[20] and trade with them was known as theNanban trade. When British and Dutch adventurers such asWilliam Adams arrived in the early 17th century, they were usually known askōmōjin ('red-haired people'),[21] a term cognate toone used in modernHokkien Chinese.
When theTokugawa shogunate was made to open Japan to foreign contact aftertwo centuries of self-isolation, Westerners were commonly called asijin ('different people'), a shortened form ofikokujin ('different country person') orihōjin ('different motherland people').[22]
The wordgaikokujin (外国人) is composed ofgaikoku ('foreign country') andjin ('person'). Early citations exist from c. 1235,[23] but it was largely non-extant until reappearing in 1838.[24] TheMeiji government (1868–1912) further popularized the term, which came to replaceijin,ikokujin andihōjin. As theEmpire of Japan extendedto Korea andto Taiwan, the termnaikokujin ('within-country people') came to refer to nationals of other imperial territories.[citation needed] While other terms fell out of use afterWorld War II,gaikokujin remained the official term for non-Japanese people. Some hold that the moderngaijin is a contraction ofgaikokujin.[25]
While all forms of the word mean 'foreigner' or 'outsider', in practicegaijin andgaikokujin are commonly used to refer to foreigners of non-East Asian ethnicities.[1][2][3][4][5][6] For example, other East Asians such asethnic Chinese andKoreans residing in Japan are not referred to asgaijin, but by their nationality directly.[citation needed]Special permanent residents with ancestry from Japan's wartime colonies, mostly Koreans, are known aszainichi (在日), while for ethnic Chinese specificallykakyō (華僑) is also used.[27][28][29]
The term may also sometimes be applied toWajin born and raised in other countries.[30][31]Gaijin is also commonly used within Japanese events such as baseball (there is a limit to non-Japanese players inNPB) andprofessional 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 people asgaijin 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-descendantsgaijin, as a counterpart tonikkei.[31][32][33] This interpretation of the term as neutral in tone continues for some.[9][13][34][35] However, though the term may be used without negative intent by many Japanese speakers,[7] it is seen as derogatory by some[10][11][12] and reflective of exclusionary attitudes.[7][8][25][36][34][37]
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)[9]
In light of these connotations, the more neutral and formalgaikokujin is often used as an alternative term to refer to non-Japanese people.[36][38] Nanette Gottlieb, Professor of Japanese Studies at the School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland, suggests that the term has become controversial and is avoided now by most Japanese television broadcasters.[25]
Gaijin appears frequently in Western literature and pop culture. It forms the title of such novels as Marc Olden'sGaijin (New York: Arbor House, 1986), James Melville'sGo gently, gaijin (New York : St. Martin's Press, 1986), James Kirkup'sGaijin on the Ginza (London: Chester Springs, 1991) and James Clavell'sGai-Jin (New York: Delacorte Press, 1993), as well as a song byNick Lowe. It is the title of feature films such as Tizuka Yamazaki'sGaijin – Os Caminhos da Liberdade (1980) andGaijin – Ama-me Como Sou (2005), as well as animation shorts such as Fumi Inoue'sGaijin (2003).
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To people in Japan, all non‐Japanese—black, white or yellow— are gaijin or foreigners. While gaijin is not derogatory, I find that its use is harsh because I sense doors clanging shut on me when I'm called one. The Japanese do have a hell of a time with me because I look like them and can say in perfect Japanese, 'I'm a foreigner and I can't speak Japanese.' Their reactions are usually complete incomprehension followed by a sputtering, 'What do you mean? You're speaking Japanese.' And finally a pejorative, 'Oh, agaijin!'
Foreigners are calledgaijin orgaikokujin in Japanese (...).Gaijin orGaikokujin commonly refers to racially different groups, and foreigners from Asian countries are called by words that addjin to the counrty's name, for example,Chosen ('Korean')jin for Koreans in general, including both North and South Koreans.
Today,gaijin has a more truly international meaning, including blacks as well as whites
The 'gaijin,' or the foreigners who have either white, brown, or black skin, are often considered separate from the Oriental
whites and blacks are socially categorized as gaijin
There are categories such ashakujin (literally 'white people') andkokujin ('black people') within thegaijin category
がいじん【外人】① 仲間以外の人。疎遠の人。連理秘抄「外人など上手多からむ座にては」② 敵視すべきな人。平家一「外人もなき所に兵具をととのへ」
Gaijin Xenophobia.
gaijin second world war.
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