fj.life.in-japan

Just the FAQs, ma'am, just the FAQs

The incomplete, unauthoritative answers to some, but not all, of your questions on life in Japan

updated August 05, 2001
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Discrimination Rantecdotes

Not Worth Getting Your Panties in a Wad

One common question by foreigners in Japan is, how acceptable is it to be referred to as a "gaijin" (literally "out-person" but used to mean "foreigner")? Should I insist on being called a "gaikokujin" (an "out-country person")? Is "gaijin-san" ("Mr/Ms out-country person") or "gaikoku no kata" ("out-country lady/gentleman") preferable to just "gaijin"?

My basic response is, "Don't worry about it!" But there's more to it than that. If you want to know, read on...

Firstly, in terms of the history of the word, "foreign" also means "outside person." It derives from "fora," meaning a door, and what is "foreign" is whatever is outside that door. "Foreign" is cognate with the Spanish word "afuera" (=outside).

Rather than getting hung up on the idea that "gaijin" means "outside person" (which in most cases it doesn't, any more than "foreigner" does), the point at issue is the way the word is used. We feel uncomfortable because people use the word "gaijin" in ways that would cause offence if the word "foreign" was used in the same way in English.

I can't speak for other English-speaking countries, but in England (and probably Britain generally) it would have been common to single people out and identify them by their "foreignness" up until perhaps about the 1960s. Think of Agatha Christie's Poirot, for example. He's regularly perceived by others as "foreign" or a "foreigner" or a "foreign gentleman", and he accepts it as par for the course.

Nowadays, though, defining a person in that way would quite often be seen as a sign of rudeness. And of course it's now much harder to determine who is a "foreigner" in Britain. Calling someone a foreigner on the basis of their appearance or the colour of their skin would be asking for trouble; there are plenty of British-born Sikhs, blacks, etc. As a result, the word "foreign" is used with some caution, at least by the politically-correct.

In Japan, though, the usage of the word "gaijin" has not evolved in the same way. Largely, this is because the society hasn't evolved, either. "Foreignness" is still largely determined by appearance and race. Once enough "racially other" people have Japanese nationality this will presumably change.

But even Japanese people can become "gaijin." They only have to choose to attend a foreign university, rather than graduate in Japan, and they will be foreigners to all intents and purposes. Just speaking English too well or spending a few years abroad can lead to native Japanese being perceived by their fellows as foreigners.

Being Japanese is something you have to be born to and while you can leave the club you can never join it. This is the underlying reality. I'm not complaining about it (though I would be glad to see it change), I'm just outlining the way it is.

So when Japanese people use the word "gaijin" they may be using it in any one of the following ways:

1. In exactly the same way as most of us would use the word "foreigner" in English today. It is after all the standard word to refer to someone who is not a native. There's nothing insulting about this, though "gaikokujin" is probably more sensitive and polite. Frankly, though, I'd prefer Japan to become more hung-loose, so rather than trying to insist on yet more polite honorifics in a language already overburdened with them, I'm quite happy to be a "gaijin" in this basic sense of the word.

2. In a way similar to the way the word foreigner was used in Agatha Christie's time, as a way of identifying anyone who is racially different or of a different nationality. This comes across as mildly offensive to my English ears. I often ignore it, but might on occasion jocularly respond to someone calling me "gaijinsan" by calling them "nihonjinsan," or, sometimes, "naijinsan" (inside person), or refer to someone as "ano nihonjin" if they referred to me as "ano gaijin."

3. In a thoughtless way when travelling abroad, i.e., by referring to the inhabitants of the country they are visiting as "gaijin". Not worth upsetting oneself over, but perhaps worth politely pointing out the fact that it is they who are the foreigners.

4. To refer to a white person. This is analogous to the use of the word "international" ("kokusai-teki") by some Japanese people to mean, basically, "Western" (i.e., not Africa or other parts of Asia, etc.). This usage betrays a narrow mindset that can be somewhat irritating, reflecting a "pyramid" view of non-Japanese humanity, with white westerners at the top. (Depending on the speaker, he/she may feel that the Japanese themselves are still higher up, or that they are lower on the scale.) It leads to distinctions that would make no sense in English, and you can hear things like, "No, he's not a foreigner. He's black," or, "You don't often see foreigners in that bar; it's mostly patronized by Brazilians." In such a case I might gently query whether the Brazilians (or whoever) are also foreigners.

5. In an exclusive, rather nationalistic way, to distinguish anyone who is not a member of the "club". This is more clearly offensive, and some of the people who use it in this way intend it to be so, though others are merely unconsciously perpetuating something they have never clearly defined without having any intent to offend. There's no point discussing things with those who intend to offend. They are likely to be right-wing extremists and not open to discussion; it's pretty rare, in my experience, to meet them face to face. And it would take ages to get the point across to someone who is perpetuating prejudiced assumptions unconsciously. Still, I have had a bit of fun on one or two occasions with dialogue like this:

Drunken "salaryman" in bar: Uh? A gaijin? I hate gaijins!
 Me: Oh, I'm terribly sorry. It really is inexcusable of me to be a foreigner. Please forgive me, I won't do it again!

Bear in mind that in Japan the person who gets angry is deemed to have lost the argument whatever the rights and wrongs of the situation, so if you do feel you want to challenge someone's usage of the word "gaijin", remember that some kind of witty or humorous reply will get you much further than losing your temper. [jry-w]

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