Gaijin

is a Japanese word for foreigners and non-Japanese citizens in Japan, specifically being applied to foreigners of non-Japanese ethnicity and those from the Japanese diaspora who are not Japanese citizens. The word is composed of two kanji: and . Similarly composed words that refer to foreign things include and . The word is typically used to refer to foreigners of non-East Asian ethnicities.

Some feel the word has come to have a negative or pejorative connotation, while other observers maintain it is neutral. is a more neutral and somewhat more formal term widely used in the Japanese government and in media. ''Gaijin'' does not specifically mean a foreigner that is also a white person; instead, the term ''hakujin'' (白人, "white person") can be considered as a type of foreigner, and ''kokujin'' (黒人, "black person") would be the black equivalent.

Etymology and history

The word ''gaijin'' can be traced in writing to the 13th-century ''Heike Monogatari'':

Here, ''gaijin'' refers to outsiders and potential enemies. Another early reference is in ''Renri Hishō'' () by Nijō Yoshimoto, where it is used to refer to a Japanese person who is a stranger, not a friend. The Noh play, '' Kurama tengu'' has a scene where a servant objects to the appearance of a traveling monk:

Here, ''gaijin'' also means an outsider or unfamiliar person.

The Portuguese in the 16th century were the first Europeans to visit Japan; they were called '' nanbanjin'' ("southern barbarians"), and trade with them was known as the ''Nanban'' trade. When British and Dutch adventurers such as William Adams arrived in the early 17th century, they were usually known as '' kōmōjin'' ("red-haired people"), a term cognate to one used in modern Hokkien Chinese.

When the Tokugawa shogunate was made to open Japan to foreign contact after two centuries of self-isolation, Westerners were commonly called as '' ijin'' ("different people"), a shortened form of '' ikokujin'' ("different country person") or '' ihōjin'' ("different motherland people").

The word ''gaikokujin'' () is composed of '' gaikoku'' (foreign country) and '' jin'' (person). Early citations exist from c. 1235, but it was largely non-extant until reappearing in 1838. The Meiji government (1868–1912) further popularized the term, which came to replace ''ijin'', ''ikokujin'' and ''ihōjin''. As the Empire of Japan extended to Korea and to Taiwan, the term '' naikokujin'' ("inside country people") came to refer to nationals of other imperial territories. While other terms fell out of use after World War II, ''gaikokujin'' remained the official term for non-Japanese people. Some hold that the modern ''gaijin'' is a contraction of ''gaikokujin''.

Usage

While all forms of the word mean "foreigner" or "outsider", in practice ''gaijin'' or ''gaikokujin'' are commonly used to refer to foreigners of non-East Asian ethnicities. For example, other East Asians such as ethnic Chinese and Koreans residing in Japan are not referred to as gaijin, but by their nationality directly, such as 星嘉波人 for Singapore or 印度尼西亜人 for Indonesia, however katakana versions are now more widely used ever since the end of World War II. Zainichi (在日), or for ethnic Chinese specifically, kakyō (華僑), are also used.

The term may also sometimes be applied to Wajin born and raised in other countries. ''Gaijin'' is also commonly used within Japanese events such as baseball (there is a limit to non-Japanese players in NPB) and professional wrestling to collectively refer to the visiting performers from the West who will frequently tour the country.

Japanese speakers commonly refer to non-Japanese people 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''. This interpretation of the term as neutral in tone continues for some. However, though the term may be used without negative intent by many Japanese speakers, it is seen as derogatory by some and reflective of exclusionary attitudes. Thomas Dillon
"Born and raised a 'gaijin'
, ''Japan Times'', December 24, 2005

In light of these connotations, the more neutral and formal ''gaikokujin'' is often used as an alternative term to refer to non-Japanese people. Nanette Gottlieb, Professor of Japanese Studies at the School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies at the University of Queensland, suggests that the term has become controversial and is avoided now by most Japanese television broadcasters. "Gaikokujin is uncontroversial and simply means a person who does not hold Japanese citizenship; it is the more common contracted version that has been the subject of irritated complaint: people may be pointed at by children and have the word gaijin either shouted or whispered though this is much less common in Japan today than it was thirty years ago. At a deeper level, though, it is the connotation of exclusion and oddity that irks, particularly when the term is combined with the adjective hen na to mean 'peculiar foreigner,' a term once often heard on Japanese television shows. The term gaijin itself is included these days by most broadcasters on their list of terms best avoided."

''Gaijin'' 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

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