Gaijin

Gaijin (外人; [ɡai(d)ʑiɴ]; 'outsider, alien') 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: gai (外, 'outside') and jin (人, 'person'). Similarly composed words that refer to foreign things include gaikoku (外国, 'foreign country') and gaisha (外車, 'foreign car'). Though the term can be applied to all foreigners of non-Japanese citizenship and ethnicity, some non-Japanese East Asians may have specific terminology used instead.

Some feel the word has come to have a negative or pejorative connotation, while other observers maintain it is neutral. Gaikokujin (外国人; [ɡaikokɯꜜ(d)ʑiɴ]; 'foreign-country person') 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:

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

Here, gaijin refers to outsiders and potential enemies. 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. The Noh play, Kurama tengu has a scene where a servant objects to the appearance of a traveling monk:

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A gaijin doesn't belong here, where children from the Genji and Heike families are playing.