Gaijin

The characters for Gaikokujin, lit: "Outside country person".

Gaijin (外人 literally: "Outside person") is an abbreviation of gaikokujin. Gaikokujin (外国人 lit: "Outside country person") is a Japanese word used to refer to foreigners or people not of Japanese nationality or in some case ethnicity or race. Because of this ethnic or racial implication, it is source of debate over its political correctness.

History

Historically, more common words designating foreingers was ikokujin (異国人 lit: "Different country person") or ihōjin (異邦人 literally: "Different motherland person"). However, the term referred to people from different Japanese feudal estate or province rather than people outside of Japan. The first Europeans to visit Japan were the Portuguese in 1542. They were known as Nanbanjin (南蛮人 lit: "Southern barbarian people"), because their ships came sailing in from the south, and that these sailors were perceived as unrefined by Japanese standards. When northern Europeans (British and Dutch adventurers, such as William Adams) in turn started to visit Japan fifty years later in the early 17th century, they were usually designated differently with the word kōmōjin (紅毛人, lit. "Red-haired people"). From 1854, when Japan opened again, until the early 20th century, foreigners in Japan were commonly referred to as ijin (異人 literally: "Different person"), a contraction of ikokujin or ihōjin.

Since the Meiji era, the term gaikokujin was adopted to refer to Japanese residents coming from foreign countries. Later as the empire of Japan extended to Korea and Taiwan, the term naikokujin (内国人 lit: "Inside country person") was used to refer to nationals of other territories of the Empire. The naikokujin term fell out of use after World War II, but gaikokujin remained the official government term for non-Japanese people in Japan. As a result of Japanese imperial policy, large number of Korean and Taiwanese Chinese moved to Japan. However, since the end of the world war II, these oriental groups largely assimilated into Japanese society. Korean in particular adopted Japanese name to hide their Korean nationality out of fear of discrimination. As a consequence, ethnically distinct Caucasian especially Americans became the most visible representation of foreingers in Japan. Around the late 70s and early 80s, caucasian minorities started expressing openly their discontent with the use of the term gaijin, insisting that the word is somewhat racist. This caused much bewilderment to many Japanese. Even so, most Japanese generally avoid using gaijin in front of non-Japanese, using instead the term gaikokujin, mainly because many non-Japanese insist upon this. Because of mixed perceptions of the word gaijin, it is a common target of kotobagari (言葉狩り literally: "word hunting", the censorship of words or phrases considered to be politically incorrect).

Language

Because Japan is almost entirely ethnically homogenous, the term gaijin could refer to someone's non-Japanese ethnicity as well as nationality. In Japanese, the shortening of long words is common, and to describe ethnicity or nationality in this manner is not derogatory in and of itself. However, shortened words are more informal and colloquial. Consequently, there exists subtle differences in nuance between gaikokujin and gaijin. In usage, Gaijin could imply someone is not ethnically Japanese while Gaikokujin could imply someone's nationality status. Gaijin can be used to harmlessly denote nationality or ethnicity, or it can be employed to emphasize a non-Japanese person's cultural exclusion. Gaijin could be used to refer to Chinese or Korean visitors to Japan, although gaijin or gaikokuji is hardly ever used as a reference for permanent residents of Chinese or Korean origin. Gaijin is mainly used for Westerners, and people of Middle Eastern or African descent.

Political correctness

Gaijin, an abbreviation of gaikokujin, might be considered to be politically incorrect. Because of mixed perceptions of the word gaijin, it is a common target of kotobagari.

The main reason that the political correctness of the word is so contested is that while it is not grammatically pejorative, it could, in usage, be considered offensive. Gaijin can be used to harmlessly imply that someone is culturally or racially alien.

Chinese, Koreans and South Americans of Japanese descent make up the majority of foreign nationals in Japan, and the largest group of Westerners, Americans, comprise only 2.3% (47,836) of the foreign population. Though small in number, Westerners are disproportionately visible and vocal in the Japanese media. This may be due in part to the obsessive Japanese concern with their country's international image, and the somewhat mistaken belief that its domestic media image and its international image are synonymous. The idea of political correctness is pervasive in the West, particularly in Anglo-Saxon culture, and Westerners are most likely to be offended by the nuanced usage of gaikokujin/gaijin.

Both sides of the debate often fail to articulate their arguments. Most Westerners are neither fluent in spoken Japanese nor functionally literate in written Japanese, and are thus unable to effectively communicate their concerns. Additionally, many Japanese are unaware of the historical origin of the word, gaikokujin, and because the issue concerns the usage of the word in certain contexts, those who do not use gaijin to emphasize racial nuances are unaware of any potentially offensive implications. Indeed, many Japanese use the term gaijin as part of their daily conversation without pejorative intent. The issue still causes bewilderment to many Japanese and many still ask Westerners why they find the word gaijin offensive.

Some parallels can be drawn between the word gaijin and the English word Asian. In a strictly grammatical and geographical sense, Asian refers to people from the Asian continent, which includes the Orient, the Indian Subcontinent, Persia and the Middle East. In usage, it refers exclusively to Orientals in American English and Indian/Pakistani/Bangladesh in British English, which implies a lack of knowledge on the part of Westerners about the diversity of the region. Moreover, geologically speaking, Europe and Asia are not separate continents. Therefore, regarding Europe as a separate continent while grouping everything else into Asia can be regarded as Eurocentric. One may have a politically as well as scientifically correct argument that to describe Europe as a separate continent is implicitly racist. Following this train of thought leads to the concept that the term Asia is passively racist and quite redundant because it refers to no geographically or culturally coherent area. People from Asia would be more accurately referred to by an appropriate culturally/racially/geographically coherent term such as Persian, Oriental or Arab. In American English, however, the word Oriental is now considered somewhat politically incorrect. Additionally, to be more accurate and politically correct, East Asian (Oriental) and South Asian (Indian) may be used. However, most English speakers do not use the word Asian with pejorative intent. Indeed, English speakers would be puzzled and possibly annoyed if someone suggested that the word Asian should be eliminated from the English language, as some believe that gaijin should be eliminated from Japanese. In daily conversation, unless someone is exceptionally conscious of political correctness, no one would use the phrases East Asian or South Asian in the same way that the Japanese use gaikokujin because such usage would be cumbersome and unnatural.

Still, because Japan is almost entirely ethnically homogenous and its culture is notably conformist many foreigners feel that the word symbolizes their cultural and social exclusion from the Japanese community. They believe that the literal meaning of the word gaijin, i.e. "outside person," emphasizes the idea that non-Japanese are outsiders. Others counter by pointing out that, in most languages, the words foreigner or foreign likewise imply something strange or alien, but to insist upon the removal of, for example, the word foreigner from English would be considered moronic.Others argue that the word gaijin is somewhat abrupt. They counter that, in English and other European languages, the shortening of nationality or ethnicity is often considered abrupt and pejorative (as in the usage of Jap to refer to Japanese people.) In Japanese, this type of abbreviation is not considered offensive, so this assertion would not apply. Many foreigners also complain that they are referred to as gaijin (or gaijin-san) by their neighbors long after settling into Japan and becoming somewhat proficient in the language. A corresponding situation in the English language would be to call a Japanese neighbor foreigner or Mr. Foreigner or Mr. Japan months after making their acquaintance. The term is also regularly applied to naturalized Japanese citizens of non-Asian ancestry. Japanese who have lived outside Japan point out that it is not unusual to be called "that Japanese/Oriental/foreign gentleman/lady/girl/guy" because they are usually the only Asian in the neighborhood. This is a reference of fact and therefore not often a source of complaint. Moreover, they point out that the more commonly used word in this context is not gaijin (foreigner) but gaijin-san (foreign gentleman/lady), the equivalent of that Japanese gentleman/lady.

In contexts such as upscale department stores, use of gaijin might cause embarrassment, while the honorifically suffixed gaijin-san might not.

Among those Japanese who have lived abroad, their view is influenced by how they view the entire idea of political correctness. From the Liberal viewpoint, correction of insensitive language encourages, promotes and helps establish certain social outcomes and relationships which are beneficial to society. From the Conservative or Libertarian viewpoint, the outcome is entirely superficial, and only serves to divert attention from substantial debate. Most agree that there is nothing wrong when a word is used to refer to a matter of fact, even in the case of race. Some Japanese phrase this as "Gaijin wo gaijin to yonde nani ga warui?" ("What's wrong with calling foreigner a foreigner?") In the case of some Westerners, an acceptance of non-Japanese identity is proclaimed to assert such identity in a positive manner-- "Ore wa gaijin daze!" ("I am a gaijin!")

Another notable twist in this linguistic debate is the resurrection of an archaic word by Japanese who believe that the gaijin issue is absurd and often the result of irritation over cultural bias sensitivity. A kind of word-play pun, the word gaijin reversed sounds like jingai (lit: "Humanity outside", a classical Japanese expression which refers to a monster or beast.) Jingai works both as an insult and mockery to those who claim that gaijin is pejorative.

See also

• Ethnic issues in Japan
• Zainichi
• Sangokujin
• Tension between social groups in sento bathhouses
• Ethnocentrism

Related concepts in other languages

• Allochtoon from Dutch
• The same characters (外国人) are pronounced Waiguoren in Chinese and have the same meaning.

External links

• The Case for "Gaijin as a Racist Word"
• Japan Today Poll and Discussion: Do you think that the Japanese word 'gaijin' is racist or derogatory?
• Japan Times readers' forum on "gaijin" and "gaikokujin"
• Is the word 'Gaijin' derogatory? - A discussion by expatriates