The word 'Gaijin'
 

Why is it that the only people who say this word are non-Japanese people?

My girlfriend is Japanese and she hates the word - says many Japanese people get very offended when it is said so why on earth do foreigners (especially ones always spouting off about how Japan is racist and hates them) use a slightly racist term to describe themselves :confused:

Interestingly, during my trip last year, we were traveling from Kyoto to Nara. On Fushimi, there was a group of student traveling, they are young, probably grade 1 or 2, one of them run up to my Italian friend Dave (who dozed off), look at his friend and said "Gaijin, sugoi ne"

But then, they are kids, so i guess its forgivable :)

People that get upset by the word "gaijin" are holding a double standard unless they also think the word "foreigner" is also offensive imo.

Is your girlfriend equally upset by the word "gaikokujin"?

No, but that is never used as an insult...

It originated as a derogatory slang term though... that is why. It's like black people calling themselves 'niggers' - it doesn't really carry the same weight now, but it originates from a far worse meaning

Well japanese people say it too. Even though I've also heard from some friends that they don't really like it beeing used.

I just can't help to laugh when you say "many Japanese people get very offended when it is said". Seriously, a Japanese person can't be "very offended" by a derogatory term pointed towards NON-Japanese people. That's just ridicilous. They can be unhappy with how the word is used, but not offended by hearing it!

Much like a white person can't get offended by hearing the n-word (even though that's stronger), even if he/she can be angry that it's used.

This has always turned into a heated argument in my experience.

I lived in Japan for two years in the Kansai area. The Japanese were freely using the word "gaijin" in a non-offensive manner, and the only gaijin who took offense were the ones who didn't get along in Japan in the first place. (IE the ones who refused to conform, pretended they were still living in America/Canada/England etc).

I had plenty of Japanese friends tell me they didn't like the strong anti-Chinese attitudes of their grandparents, but never did they have a problem with the word gaijin itself.

Personally I think your girlfriend is being excessively PC.

Of course they can... something doesn't have to be aimed at you to be offensive


It would be like me making a random insult at your mother - are you telling me it wouldn't be offensive to you because you are not the intended target?

Well to each there own, but she isn't alone in that way of thinking...

And tell me this... if it isn't derogatory, why do kids use it as a way of picking on others at school who are not 100% Japanese?

It's not supposed to be derogatory. But kids can be cruel. A kid can make anything an insult.

The experience I've had with it is that it's a term to identify a forginer. I can be derogatory or not. Depending on the situation, person, anything.

It goes back to the old saying "It isn't what you say, It's how you say it"

Well, this is true I guess... suppose anything can be offensive in context

Suppose you do convince people to stop saying "gaijin". Now what? What word do they use to talk about foreigners? Because that IS the word for foreigner.

I've heard people say the word "gaikokujin" is offensive. So now we need to get rid of that word to?

You know, even the word "foreigner" in English can be used in an offensive manner. "We don't want any of you foreigners in our town!" for example.

On the subject of kids using it to pick out others - kids of any nationality will pick out something different in another kid. They'll pick out the non-Japanese, the Japanese, the fat, the freckled, the redhead, the smart... Its just something they do.
Adults aren't any different.

Its also subjective to the "victim", my buddy Dave doesn't care if he is called a Gaijin or "Gwailo" (Cantonese for Foreigner). I think the term "racism" is being abused these days, people who take certain word offensively may be discriminating themselves in the first place. I have friends that think "Chinese Guy" is a racist term, while I tell my friend to address me as the little Chinese Guy....

Its the same concept with people who victimize themselves, in this case, the individual is even more reactive to how they are address because they themselves think that they stand out different form the crowd

A random insult at my mother? That affects me alot more personally than a Japanese person hearing a word that translates to "foreigner". If you don't see that then, well, no point for me to talk to you.

Of course it affects you, that isn't the point - the point is that my girlfriend doesn't like to hear people who stay in her country being spoken of in that manner. Much the same as you wouldn't like to hear anyone speaking ill of a family member

I don't like hearing Americans use the word 'Jap' but they say it quite a lot out here...are you saying I'm not allowed to be offended because I'm English?

Gaikokujin is never used in a negative sense though...

Also, doesn't it seem strange that no media publications or broadcasts EVER use the word 'gaijin'?

Much in how any media outlet will avoid using words that some groups have taken upon themselves to think is offensive.

They want to keep their sales up, not drive away those who are easily offended.

Gaijin is just one of those words that people have, for no good reason, decided they will be angry and offended when they hear it. It's a ridiculous issue.

I find your assumptions regarding who can, or should be, offended by derogatory name calling both ignorant and offensive. Anyone within hearing distance of the use of a racial epithet should be angry at the person using it, regardless of their own race. Your thinking is how such terms manage to remain in use.:mad:

Good point. While a child or someone referring to me as gaijin would simply be accurate, if I were touring outside of my own country, it could be said in such a tone - or with additional words - that could turn it quite insulting. Unlike like a racial epithet referred to earlier that can never be anything but insulting in public, I can use "tourist" very accurately and politely, but I can also use it with a connotation emphasizing the lack of knowledge which turns it into an insult.

Amen to that!

Now behold the power of Wikipedia! It explains the subject of Gaijin quite nicely.


Gaijin (外人, Gaijin? IPA: [ˈɡaɪʥin]) is a Japanese word meaning "foreigner" or "outsider".[1] The word is composed of gai (外, outside) and jin (人, person), so the word can be translated literally as "outside (foreign) person." The word can refer to nationality, race, ethnicity. Gaijin is regarded by some as a neutral or positive term, reflecting the status of Caucasian foreigners to which it is frequently applied.[2][3] In recent times, the word has become regarded by some as exclusionary[4] or derogatory[5][6][7] and thus offensive[8]. Because of this latter perception by some, the term has become somewhat politically incorrect and is avoided now by some in the Japanese media.

Gaijin and gaikokujin (外国人, gaikokujin?) are Japanese words meaning "foreigner." Gaikokujin (外国人) is composed of gaikoku (外国, foreign country) and jin (人, person), so the word literally means "foreign-country person." The word gaijin was initially not applied to foreigners. It is of ancient provenance and can be traced in writing back to Heike Monogatari, written early in the 13th century:

外人もなき所に兵具をとゝのへ [9]
Assembling arms where there are no gaijin

Here, gaijin is used to refer to outsiders[10][11] and potential enemies.[12] Another early reference is in Renri Hishō (c. 1349) by Nijō Yoshimoto, where it is used to refer to a (Japanese) person who is a stranger, not a friend.[12] Noh, Kurama tengu[13] also has a dialog:

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
Since the children of both Genji and Heike are here, such a gaijin is not appropriate to stay together.

Here, gaijin also means an outsider/stranger or an unknown/unfamiliar person.[14]

Historically, the Portuguese, the first Europeans to visit Japan, were known as nanbanjin (ja:南蛮人, "southern barbarians")[15]. When British and Dutch adventurers such as William Adams arrived in Japan fifty years later in the early 17th century, they were usually known as kōmōjin (ja:紅毛人, "red-haired people"), a term still used in the Min Nan (Taiwanese) dialect of Chinese today.

When the Tokugawa shogunate was forced to open Japan to foreign contact, Westerners were commonly referred to as ijin (ja:異人, "different people"), a shortened form of ikokujin (ja:異国人, "different country people") or ihōjin (ja:異邦人, "different motherland people"), terms previously used for Japanese from different feudal (that is, foreign) states.[citation needed] Keto (ja:毛唐), literally meaning "hairy Tang", was (and is) used as a pejorative for Chinese and Westerners.[16]

The word gaikokujin was only introduced and popularized by the Meiji government who united the feudal states in Japan as one nation, and this gradually replaced ijin, ikokujin and ihōjin. As the empire of Japan extended to Korea and Taiwan, the term naikokujin (ja:内国人, "inside country people") was used to refer to nationals of other territories of the Empire.[citation needed] While other terms fell out of use after World War II, gaikokujin remained as the official government term for non-Japanese people.

While all forms of the word mean "foreigner" or "outsider", in practice gaikokujin and gaijin commonly refer to racially different groups,[18] principally Caucasians.[19][20][21][22][23][2] However the term is also applied to ethnic Japanese born and raised in other countries.[24][25] Gaijin is also commonly used within Japanese professional 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 as gaijin 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-descendants gaijin, as a counterpart to nikkei.[24]

Historically, the word "gaijin" was a positive term, reflecting the high status, prestige and wealth of Caucasians.[26][27][28] This interpretation of the term as positive or neutral in tone continues for some.[2][3][8][29][30] However, though the term may be used without negative intent by many Japanese speakers,[4] it is seen as derogatory by some[31][32][33] and reflective of exclusionary attitudes.[4][22][34][35][29]

"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)[8]

The term is avoided by mainstream Japanese media whenever possible.[35][36] Now that gaijin has become somewhat politically incorrect, it is common to refer to non-Japanese as gaikokujin.[22][36]

The term gaijin is also used as a form of address in some situations, in which case it is commonly combined with the routine honorific -san, roughly translated as "Mr" or "Ms." Gaijin-san may also be used as a more polite alternative to gaijin or gaikokujin.

Gaijin also appears frequently in Western literature and pop culture. It forms the title of such novels as Marc Olden's Gaijin (New York: Arbor House, 1986), James Melville's Go gently, gaijin (New York : St. Martin's Press, 1986), James Kirkup's Gaijin on the Ginza (London: Chester Springs, 1991) and James Clavell's Gai-Jin (New York: Delacorte Press, 1993), as well as a song by Nick Lowe. It is the title of feature films such as Tizuka Yamazaki's Gaijin - Os Caminhos da Liberdade (1980) and Gaijin - Ama-me Como Sou (2005), as well as animation shorts such as Fumi Inoue's Gaijin (2003). It is a recurring word in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), where it is used to refer to both the main character, an American, and his love interest.

So there is no difference between a family member and people from different places of the world as far as being offended by someone insulting them goes? (bear in mind most foreigners doesn't give two shits about hearing the word).

Anyways I agree with a previous poster - your GF just seems way too PC. Let the gaijins complain if they feel offended - not the japanese.

Maybe it's a Kansai thing but "gaijin" is the term used for non-Japanese. There are two kinds of people that live in Japan: Nihonjin and gaijin. I think of both words on the same level. Some translate "gaijin" as "hairy barbarian" and that is just ignorant.

I am going to go out on a limb and guess that those offended by the word "gaijin" probably have a lot of other issues with Japan as well.

Black people do call themselves that, which in any degree is degrading. If for an instance there was a group of friends hanging out and one walked up and said "yo whatz up nigga", they find it to be okay, but in another scene a person of a different race where to say the same thing, they want to get angry and say negative things about that person, calling them racist and things. Its not right. I have witnessed it happen and have siad a few things to make the ones in the wrong think on what was said and done. Either way the word is degrading.

While I agree with MMM, I think Akakage may have just highlighted the source of the misunderstanding.



"Outsider" in English has its own negative connotation. Its not usually someone merely unfamiliar, but someone shut out from the rest. So if people saw "outsider" as the translation for gaijin, rather than merely foreigner, I could see where it would be misinterpreted.

If not gaijin, then lets start calling everyone "nihon-kara-ja-nai-hito"!
Yes, that's how silly this argument is.

I personally hate it when blacks go around using the "n-word". It's embarrassing to our race, imo, that we use such a negative word amongst ourselves.A "not Japanese person" or, "a not from Japan person" seems more right. lol

All I can say at this point is that chachava's girlfriend is not alone.

I have met so many girls who claimed the same thing and all they had in common was they had lived abroad for a short period of time through working holiday visa and etc.

They only saw a positive aspect of life outside of Japan and decided that Japan is racist country.

I have lived outside of Japan for 10 years combined and maybe I experienced the same thing 9 years ago when I first returned to Japan.

What a ridiculous thing to say... if I called a Japanese person whose parents were unmarried at birth a 'Jap bastard', I would be deemed a racist despite that being factually correct

And nobody answered my other question... why is the shortened 'gaijin' form ok, but if I use 'Jap' or 'Nip' then they are racially offensive terms?

I don't know if it means anything, but my girlfriend is from Akita and not Tokyo so might be a different situation there as they are not as mixed with foreigners

Please don't even try and compare n*gger and j@p and n!p to "gaijin".

Gaijin isn't a racist term. Those other words are.

The word "gaijin" is an innocuous as "gay" or "Chinese". Those other words are not.

Now you're comparing a word that some see with a tone of racism to words that were created out of racism and hatred.

Edit: MMM beat me to it =p

And you're really stretching if you're making those comparisons.

Why are you so dead set on this being racist? Have you personally had a Japanese citizen call you a gaijin with racist or discriminatory intent?

I'm assuming that you are from Europe or somewhere, right?

Cos Jap and Nip were commonly used during the WWII referring to Japanese people and it contained so much hate back then.

If you come from a country which was directly involved with Japan during the WWII, you should know why and where these two words originated from.

Of course it is understandable why people used it back then but if you use these words nowadays, it is nothing but racist.

Akita is very much country side and there are almost non foreigners living there.

Both of my parents come from Akita so I know that people in Akita are good people and they are country folks.

And because of that, they are very naive.

Your g/f could be typical Akita native just like my folks.

Chachava, I don't know why you edited this from "black" to "Jap" as black isn't a racist term, and "jap" is. So yes, you would be considered racist and it isn't factually correct (unless you are a racist).

whew quite an interesting discussion goign on here on one word. Carry on, I am enjoying reading everyone's responses

To be honest, I don't see how "Gaijin" is offensive. I mean, it's just a term that means "foreigner". I still haven't seen much of an argument here as to why it's offensive.

aaa....a heated debate. i better stay out of it and only provide some input. gaijin or gaikokujin hasn't been used since the beginning of time. before gaikokujin japan used 異国人　ikokujin　or sometimes 異邦人. 異 means different. before that i think japan used something along the lines with ppl from the south. nagoyankee might know. (no, i am not implying that u r that old :) )

after having started in such a civilised matter i feel that i can at least end with an opinion. i would favour the approach that it is not the word in itself that is derogatory but how it is used. if the person saying it intends for it to be used then i would think that that person shouldn't use it. but then again how do u know that? then again there r words that one perhaps should avoid all together, 三国人 might be one of those words.

the reasoning that japanese ppl can't hate the word gaijin is just nonsense. take the very unfortunate word bitch, usually aimed at the female population, but as a male i can't hate it? that logic doesn't make sense.

and a history lesson for tommasi, european countries fought the japanese too during the WWII.

Can you explain WHY it isn't factually correct? They are both Japanese and a bastard if that situation is true...


As for the edit, it was smply because I was going off track and not comparing to Japanese as I got sidetracked by previous posts

Anyway, 'jap' is a shortened form of 'Japanese'... surely it's double standards to say that is racist and 'gaijin', the shortened form of 'gaikokujin', is ok?

Unless the word 'Japanese' is racist of course...:rolleyes:

Like I said previously, I don't like the use of the word 'Jap' but it does make me wonder how one can be fine and the other be a bad word