Gaijin

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

{{blockquote|{{lang|ja|外人もなき所に兵具をとゝのへ}}{{cite book |last=高木 |first=市之助 |author2=小沢正夫 |author3=渥美かをる |author4=金田一春彦 |script-title=ja:日本古典文学大系: 平家物語 |publisher=岩波書店 |year=1959 |isbn=4-00-060032-X |language=Japanese |page=123}}
Assembling arms where there are no gaijinThe 13th-century pronunciation of the characters {{lang|ja|外人}} is debated; it may have been kotobito ({{lang|ja|ことびと}}), udokihito ({{lang|ja|うどきひと}}) or gwaijin ({{lang|ja|ぐゎいじん}}). The spelling gaijin is used here for continuity.}}

Here, gaijin refers to outsidersA. Matsumura (ed.), Daijirin (大辞林), (p. 397, 9th ed., vol. 1). (1989). Tokyo: Sanseido. "がいじん【外人】②　そのことに関係のない人。第三者。「外人もなき所に兵具をととのへ／平家一」"A. Matsumura (ed.), Daijisen (大辞泉), (p. 437, 1st ed., vol. 1). (1998). Tokyo: Shogakukan. "がいじん。【外人】②　仲間以外の人。他人。「外人もなき所に兵具をととのへ」〈平家・一〉" and potential enemies.{{cite encyclopedia | title =外人 | encyclopedia =Kōjien | publisher =Iwanami |year=1998 | edition=5 |quote= がいじん【外人】①　仲間以外の人。疎遠の人。連理秘抄「外人など上手多からむ座にては」②　敵視すべきな人。平家一「外人もなき所に兵具をととのへ」 | isbn =4-00-080111-2}} Another early reference is in Renri Hishō ({{circa|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{{in lang|ja}} [http://www.noh-kyogen.com/story/ka/kuramatengu.html 鞍馬天狗] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208143355/http://www.noh-kyogen.com/story/ka/kuramatengu.html |date=2008-02-08 }}, Ohtsuki Noh Theatre. has a scene where a servant objects to the appearance of a traveling monk:

{{blockquote|{{lang|ja|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.}}

Here, gaijin also means an outsider or unfamiliar person.M. Yamaguchi et al. (eds.), Shinkango jiten (新漢語辞典), (p. 282, 2nd ed., vol. 1). (2000). Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten Publishing. "【外人】②　局外者。他人。「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」"

The Portuguese in the 16th century were the first Europeans to visit Japan; they were called nanbanjin ('southern barbarians'),{{Cite journal|doi=10.1163/15685209-12341246|title=The Disruptive Presence of the Namban-jin in Early Modern Japan|year=2012|last1=Curvelo|first1=Alexandra|journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient|volume=55|issue=2–3|pages=581–602|doi-access=free}} 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'),https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/361/36100202.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}} 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').{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/tja/72/Special_Issue/72_139/_article/-char/en|doi = 10.2183/tja.72.Special_Issue_139|title = Japanese-Dutch Relations in the Tokugawa Period|year = 2018|last1 = Matsui|first1 = Yoko|journal = Transactions of the Japan Academy|volume = 72|pages = 139–154| s2cid=188721665 |doi-access = free}}

The word gaikokujin ({{lang|ja|外国人}}) is composed of gaikoku ('foreign country') and jin ('person'). Early citations exist from c. 1235,正法眼蔵随聞記 (1235–1238):[...]衆中ニ具眼ノ人アリテ、外國人トシテ大叢林ノ侍者タランコト、國ニ人ナキガ如シト難ズルコトアラン、尤モハヅベシ but it was largely non-extant until reappearing in 1838.鳩舌或問 (1838): されとこれらの事情は容易に外国人に知らせし事ならねは 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 ('within-country people') came to refer to nationals of other imperial territories.{{Citation needed|date=May 2007}} 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.

Image:Foreigners in Japan in 2000 by citizenship.PNG

While all forms of the word mean 'foreigner' or 'outsider', in practice gaijin and gaikokujin are commonly used to refer to foreigners of non-East Asian ethnicities.{{cite book|last1 = Lee |first1 = So im |title = The cultural exclusiveness of Ethnocentrism: Japan's treatment of foreign residents |year = 2006 |publisher = iUniverse |location = New York |page = [https://books.google.com/books?id=Nz4PwYOgtzgC&dq=gaijin+foreigners+of+non-Asian+ethnicities&pg=PA102 102]|quote = Foreigners are called gaijin or gaikokujin in Japanese (...). Gaijin or Gaikokujin commonly refers to racially different groups, and foreigners from Asian countries are called by words that add jin to the counrty's name, for example, Chosen ('Korean') jin for Koreans in general, including both North and South Koreans.}} 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.{{cn|date=August 2023}} Special permanent residents with ancestry from Japan's wartime colonies, mostly Koreans, are known as zainichi (在日), while for ethnic Chinese specifically kakyō (華僑) is also used.{{Cite web|last=Lie|first=John|title=Zainichi (Koreans in Japan): Diasporic Nationalism and Postcolonial Identity|url=https://escholarship.org/content/qt7qr1c5x7/qt7qr1c5x7_noSplash_8b5887eeb590978317416a0de3057740.pdf|access-date=2020-07-31|archive-date=2020-09-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923135921/https://escholarship.org/content/qt7qr1c5x7/qt7qr1c5x7_noSplash_8b5887eeb590978317416a0de3057740.pdf|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|last=Moritz|first=Charlie|date=2018-01-11|title=Is The Word Gaijin Actually Racist? {{!}} Live Work Play Japan|url=https://www.liveworkplayjapan.com/is-the-word-gaijin-actually-racist/|access-date=2020-07-31|language=en-GB|archive-date=2020-08-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200814074438/https://www.liveworkplayjapan.com/is-the-word-gaijin-actually-racist/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|date=2010-08-10|title=Yakuza 3 reviewed by Yakuza|url=https://boingboing.net/2010/08/10/yakuza-3-review.html|access-date=2020-07-31|website=Boing Boing|language=en|archive-date=2020-08-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813014215/https://boingboing.net/2010/08/10/yakuza-3-review.html|url-status=live}}

The term may also sometimes be applied to Wajin born and raised in other countries.{{cite book

| last = Koshiro

| first = Yukiko

| authorlink =

| title = Trans-Pacific Racisms and the U.S. Occupation of Japan

| publisher = Columbia University Press

| year = 1999

| location =

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CaeyOTMMjPYC&q=Gaijin+definition&pg=PA254

| isbn = 0-231-11348-X

| page = 254 }}{{cite book

| last = Tsuda

| first = Takeyuki

| authorlink =

| title = Strangers in the Ethnic Homeland: Japanese Brazilian Return | publisher = Columbia University Press

| year = 2003

| location =

| pages =

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vag8SDzg4iQC&q=Designated+majority+Brazilians+as+Gaijin&pg=RA1-PA372

| doi =

| id =

| isbn = 0-231-12838-X }} 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.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

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.{{Cite book

|last = Lie

|first = John

|publication-date = 2000

|contribution = The Discourse of Japaneseness

|contribution-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=foRpFBUtl3YC&q=The+Discourse+of+Japaneseness+and+Foreign+Workers&pg=PA70

|editor-last = Douglass

|editor-first = Mike

|editor2-last = Roberts

|editor2-first = Glenda Susan

|title = Japan and Global Migration: Foreign Workers and the Advent of a Multicultural Society

|publisher = Routledge

|pages = 75

|isbn = 0-415-19110-6

|year = 2000

|access-date = 2016-09-23

|archive-date = 2017-03-07

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170307145148/https://books.google.com/books?id=foRpFBUtl3YC&pg=PA70&lpg=PA70&dq=The+Discourse+of+Japaneseness+and+Foreign+Workers&source=web&ots=ytgO6oo95c&sig=Ksz5HfKYRv2gRe8OfQg-6BBwMck#PPA75,M1

|url-status = live

}}{{Cite book

| last1 = Suzuki

| first1 = Jiro

| last2 = Sakamoto

| first2 = Mickey

| year = 1976

| publication-date = 1976

| contribution = Discrimination against foreigners of Japanese descent in Japan

| contribution-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3up_wO0Hzu8C&q=gaijin+prestige&pg=PA275

| editor-last = Veenhoven

| editor-first = Willem Adriaan

| editor2-last = Crum Ewing

| editor2-first = Winifred

| title = Case Studies on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms: A World Survey

| publisher = Stichting Plurale

| pages = 274

| isbn = 90-247-1779-5

| access-date = 2016-09-23

| archive-date = 2017-03-07

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170307145821/https://books.google.com/books?id=3up_wO0Hzu8C&pg=PA275&dq=gaijin+prestige&sig=KhFOQR1kzRkVVDmOGrNMyUMLBQw#PPA273,M1

| url-status = live

}} This interpretation of the term as neutral in tone continues for some.{{cite journal

| last = Itoh

| first = Mayumi

| title = Japan's abiding sakoku mentality - seclusion from other countries - Economic Myths Explained

| journal = Orbis

| volume = 40

| issue = 3

| publisher = Foreign Policy Research Institute / JAI Press Inc.

| date = Summer 1996

| url = https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2FS0030-4387%2896%2990062-9

| doi = 10.1016/S0030-4387(96)90062-9

| access-date = 2008-02-15

| archive-date = 2008-02-14

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080214092641/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0365/is_n2_v40/ai_18338848

| url-status = live

}}{{cite journal

| last = Wada

| first = Minoru

| title = Education behind the scenes

| journal =The Daily Yomiuri

| pages = 9

| date = 20 June 1994

}} 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.{{Cite book

| last = Wetherall

| first = William

| contribution =Foreigners in Japan

| year = 1983

| title = Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan

| volume = 2

| pages = 313–4

| place = Tokyo

| publisher = Kodansha

| contribution-url =http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/yosha/minorities/Foreigners_in_Japan.html

| title-link = Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan

}} {{dead link|date=June 2010}}{{cite book|last=Buckley|first=Sandra|title=Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture|publisher=Taylor and Francis|year=2002|pages=161–2|chapter=Gaijin|isbn=0-415-14344-6|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tOaHI25bn-kC&q=Gaijin&pg=PA161|access-date=2016-09-23|archive-date=2017-03-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170307145301/https://books.google.com/books?id=tOaHI25bn-kC&pg=PA161&dq=Gaijin|url-status=live}}{{cite book

| last = Lie

| first = John

| title = Multiethnic Japan

| publisher = Harvard University Press

| year = 1999

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3aGeH0keCGUC&q=Gaijin+racist&pg=PA173

| isbn = 0-674-01358-1

| page = 20

| access-date = 2016-09-23

| archive-date = 2017-03-07

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170307150014/https://books.google.com/books?id=3aGeH0keCGUC&pg=PA173&dq=Gaijin+racist

| url-status = live

}}Thomas Dillon, [http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20051224td.html "Born and raised a 'gaijin'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080310235851/http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20051224td.html |date=2008-03-10 }}, Japan Times, December 24, 2005{{cite book

| last = Sugihara

| first = Kaoru

|author2=Allan, John Anthony

| title = Japan in the Contemporary Middle East

| publisher = Routledge

| year = 1993

| url = https://archive.org/details/japanincontempor00sugi

| url-access = registration

| quote = Gaijin Xenophobia.

| isbn = 0-415-07521-1

| page = [https://archive.org/details/japanincontempor00sugi/page/150 150]}}

{{blockquote|While the term itself has no derogatory meaning, it emphasizes the exclusiveness of Japanese attitude and has therefore picked up pejorative connotations that many Westerners resent.|Mayumi Itoh (1995)}}

In light of these connotations, the more neutral and formal gaikokujin is often used as an alternative term to refer to non-Japanese people.{{Cite book

| last = Whiting

| first = Robert

| year = 2004

| title = The Meaning of Ichiro

| pages = [https://archive.org/details/meaningofichiron00whit/page/152 152]

| publisher = Warner Books

|url= https://archive.org/details/meaningofichiron00whit

| url-access = registration

| quote = gaijin second world war.

|isbn= 0-446-53192-8

}} 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.{{Cite book

| last = Gottlieb

| first = Nanette

| year = 2005

| title = Language and Society in Japan

| pages = 117–8

| publisher = Cambridge University Press

|isbn= 978-0-521-53284-6

}} "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 [変な] 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. It is the title of feature films such as Tizuka Yamazaki's Gaijin – Os Caminhos da Liberdade (1980) and Gaijin – Ama-me Como Sou (2005), as well as animation shorts such as Fumi Inoue's Gaijin (2003).

{{Main|Demography of Japan#Foreign residents}}

{{empty section|date=September 2022}}

{{Wiktionary pipe|外人|gaijin}}

{{Wiktionary pipe|外国人|gaikokujin}}

• List of terms for ethnic exogroups
• Alien (law)
• Bule
• Farang
• Guizi
• Goyim
• Gweilo
• Gringo
• Japanese abbreviated and contracted words
• Laowai
• Pendatang
• Sangokujin
• Sonnō jōi

{{Reflist}}

{{Immigration to Japan}}

{{Ethnic groups in Japan}}

{{Ethnic slurs}}

Category:Japanese words and phrases

Category:Ethno-cultural designations

Category:Racism in Japan

Category:Pejorative terms for strangers and foreigners

Category:Xenophobia in Asia