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Originally Posted by hennaz
I do not think Japanese are racist, I just think they are xenophobic. That's different from being racist, because racism is the belief that some races are superior/inferior to others.
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Did you just step off of a time machine from 1925. Things have changed a little over the last 70 years or so.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hennaz
The Japanese are just not used to or qualified to help foreigners, because they are not so many foreigners in Japan at the moment, and because they are worried that foreigners would speak to them in something not in Japanese, and they won't know how to help them. Also note that very few Japanese can speak English (or any other language besides Japanese).
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So I wonder how the millions of non-Japanese speaking tourists are able to function. How can such a backwards land host things like the Olympics and World Cup championships? Mind-boggling.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hennaz
I personally don't like the word "gaijin" because it literally translates as "outsider", calling a foreign person an ousider to me sounds quite harsh. When I went to Japan last year I used the word "gaijin" to describe myself sometimes, but I still find (and have found) that word politically incorrect. If a Japanese called me a "gaijin", I would be quite offended.
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Literally translate "sensei" (teacher) and it means "born before". Literally translate "beikoku" (USA) and it means "rice country". Literally translate "gaijin" foreigner and it means "outside person". Literally translate the English word "foreigner" and it means..."outside person".
But in practical use when people say "sensei" they aren't thinking "born before", when they talk about America they aren't thinking "rice country" and when they talk about "gaijin" they aren't thinking "outside person". So there isn't much use worrying about literal translations, but what people really mean.