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Originally Posted by Tsuwabuki
So I find the term gaijin offensive, although gaikokujin less so. Whatever the Japanese term for Legal Resident, that's what I should be called. If I was a Japanese citizen, however, I would be quite offended by the use of gaijin. Whatever else Debito may have said or done, this I agree with him on: He's Japanese. Ethnicity does not matter under the law. Only nationality does, and even then only to a certain extent. Inherent civil rights should not be denied to any person. Again, the US has had only a marginally better track record with this than anyone else, but inherency is supranationalist and rather held by humankind as a whole by virtue of being human.
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I do agree that the small group of foreign born Japanese citizens do have the right to dislike the term - within reason of course. Use it as a chance to educate, to bring to people`s attention the issues you just brought up.
In the end though, it does carry a strong indicator of race, so it`s a harder wall to climb than most people think at first glance - or when they first read "Gaijin means outsider, so it`s offensive!" somewhere on the net.
To me, I see it sort of as the difference between "Asian" and, say, "Chinese". Someone "Chinese" is a citizen of China. But "Asian" doesn`t mean that the person is a citizen of an Asian country. It reflects racial background. "Gaijin" tends to mean "European" or "Western" in Japanese
usage. I would be offended to be called "American" after I took Japanese citizenship, but being called "Gaijin" would be much less frustrating. "American" after the other person knows that I have Japanese citizenship would flat out make me mad. "Gaijin" on the other hand would be a starter point to bring up the issues of race and citizenship.
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The non-ethnic Japanese community in Japan has much too much to lose for these sorry children to be mucking around unsupervised.
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Thank you. Idiotic activities, support of stereotypes, immaturity, etc does nothing to help anyone.