Quote:
Originally Posted by GTJ
lol, bloody foreigners.
Actually, most foreigners (there it is again!) in Japan think gaijin is a contraction of gaikokujin. Etymologically, it isn't. Check out this wikipedia article for some more information; it's actually really interesting. As far as "gaijin" is concerned, I think it's kind of akin to the "n" word in America; we can say it, but you can't. If I'm hanging around with some foreign buddies and we call each other gaijin, it's all in good fun. But when a grumpy old man or some punk kid walks past and is muttering "gaijin this, gaijin that, *&($!@ing gaijin" (it's happened a lot), then we have a problem. When I'm sitting at a bar I frequent and the bartender (whom I know, but is often drunk himself so maybe this isn't his fault) is talking about me to new customers, calling me "the gaijin", we have a problem.
Er... sorry. I derailed my own thread. I'm not too terribly sensitive, but I've also never been a minority before, so it's tough, and easy to get offended. I'm working on it!  I'm putting more effort into understanding word usage, and why Japanese people act the way they do around foreigners, rather than just getting angry about it. Well... it's a learning process! 
Anyway, I agree that it states a fact. But what's wrong with saying "amerikajin" or "igilisujin"? We in the west do it, especially in news reports, on television, when introducing friends, etc. In Japan, in all of those situations, it's "gaikokujin". My focus here is that the Japanese seem to use it in reference to anybody who isn't Japanese, even if that person is in their own country, and even if the Japanese person saying it is they themselves overseas. If a Japanese person goes to Italy and walks around saying "woww look at all the gaikokujin here!" (It's happened, I have video evidence  ), someone needs to get smacked. |
Dude, you are a gaijin in Japan. Accept it or get on the next plane. Americans aren't that much better at distinguishing Puerto Ricans from Mexicans from Cubans...and these are countries that are less than 5000 miles away from us. Why should Japanese be able to distinguish Canadians from Americans from English...all dudes from different continents.
That would be like asking me to distinguish a Kuwati from a Saudi from an Iraqi.
Put it in that perspective I think the island country of Japan does a pretty damn good job.