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12-13-2010, 09:22 PM
The literal meaning of the word "gaijin" which is the short way of saying "gaikokujin" when broken down in translation is "gai" using the kanji the represents the word outside and "jin" using the kanji that represents the world for person or people. So actually the Americans aren't wrong in their belief the word means "foreigner" or "outside person". I believe that it is the say this word is used, the context or the intent of the person using the word.
Personally, me and the foreigners (not just Americans) I was with in Japan didn't have a problem with the word. We called ourselves and each other "gaijin" and no one got offended. The ill-intent of the world, or even the possibility of that, had never even been brought up. Fact of the matter is a foreigner in Japan will never be Japanese, just like a foreigner in China with never be Chinese or a foreigner in Korean or India will never belong to those countries. It's not like America where it is a melting pot of colors or cultures from which we have built our society. They are people not of that land trying to mesh. It's not going to happen easily, do simply to the fact we don't look the same, but i don't see this as a negative out look on Japan itself or any other country that I just named. Japanese is one of the last countries, besides North Korea and some other countries I'm sure I don't know about, to open themselves up to the outside world and they have less hatred in their hearts than some Americans I know. I think they are progressing nicely from were they came from and quickly as well. Like I said before, it was only in Japan were I only felt like an American, not a black American or an African American (Funny, I don’t even know what generation I am) or anything else that could be potentially hurtful. I was an American and there were no attachments connected to who they thought I would be or should be. I made my own impression and that's what they saw when they looked at me and interacted with me. With such hated and ignorance in my own Mother Country, Japan is a breath of fresh air to say the least. This isn’t to say that I won’t encounter similar problems in Japan, I’m sure I will, but the reasoning will be much more understandable to me and thus more tolerable. ( I’m speaking for myself only.)  A New Face
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12-13-2010, 10:18 PM
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12-13-2010, 10:50 PM
Yeah, I'm glad you didn't agree... I don't think it's something to get all bent out of shape about, personally. But couldn't the "kuko" also be translated as "country"?
I have to admit that I have NEVER heard a Japanese person call themselves "gaijin" unless they were joking around, which does happen. But never seriously. Is it a bad thing though? If a Japanese person comes to America with a less than picture perfect accent, they will also not be looked at as American. (There is always that urge to ask, "Where are you from?") BTW, I don't think this subject too off topic because it's what's be expected with a foreigner is to date/marry into Japanese society. A New Face
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12-13-2010, 11:09 PM
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There is nothing WRONG with being a foreigner, just like there is nothing WRONG with being a tourist.
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12-14-2010, 01:38 AM
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Yeah I call all myself gaijin to all my friends/students etc, some of them are un-phased, some laugh a little, some ask me if it's ok to call myself that (the overly cautious type). It just means outsider, really, which is what I am. Even if I lived here for the rest of my life I'd still be an outsider to the culture, and those who can't accept that really need to reevaluate where they are living. What I do understand is those who are born and raised in Japan and don't carry a gaijin-card still getting called gaijin, that could get on their nerves especially if they only knew Japanese and it's culture. --- I see your point MMM about not changing the title, I was worried people would use the term elsewhere because they'd seen it in the title without having read the posts, but yes racism is a pressing issue in the topic at hand. The government files also keep track of your family blood lines and which cast you descended from, a lot of buraku (it's so messed up that it sounds like "black") people have their lives ruined because of this system, and they are just as Japanese as other Japanese people. If you don't know about Buraku people, please start another thread and we can expand on that there  But yeah, the point is that social status, position, class, colour, creed, etc are all very prominent factors in this culture, and anyone coming into it needs to accept that or leave ><
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12-14-2010, 03:39 PM
Hey! Back to the marriage aspect of this subject. Do you think it's possible that, with the marriages to non-Japanese people on the rise, the younger generation of Japanese are starting to care a little less about having a pure blood line?
A New Face
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12-14-2010, 03:41 PM
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People here seem to care a lot more about what their parents think than people back home did, even when they know it's wrong.
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12-14-2010, 03:42 PM
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Students I studied with used the word to describe themselves when they would tell me of their tales in other countries.
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12-14-2010, 04:58 PM
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The only times I can think of are saying 外国の人だからXXX or この国の人じゃないからXXX
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