Gaijin

Gaijin ( 外人, Gaijin ^?) is a term given by Japanese referring to foreigners (or sometimes non-naturalized people), and that some (foreigners or Japanese) consider insulting or disrespectful. The term is used with any foreigner, although it is frequently used with foreigners from non-Asian ethnic groups.

In Japanese, gaijin is written with two kanji: 外 gai (outside) and 人 jin (person). "gaijin" is a contraction of the more respectful and politically correct "gaikokujin" (外国人, "gaikokujin"^? lit: person from a foreign country), although it is not more precise if applied to a naturalized Japanese person.

Many Japanese, especially those living outside of Tokyo and Osaka, don't know that gaijin is considered offensive. Knowing that it is informal, however, they will often say gaijin-san (lit. Mr. Foreign, Mrs. Foreign, Miss Foreign) in a euphemistic attempt to show greater respect. In this context, gaijin can be considered analogous to terms like guiri, which also denotes an element of foreigner who does not know/understand the customs of the country.

In other contexts, however, gaijin can be used to emphasize foreignness and non-belonging, and it is this use that has given it its racist connotation. Racism in Japan is not a topic that Japanese people think about much because the foreign population is very small compared to the native population. In contrast to other countries where racism exists, discrimination in Japan is based not on where you're from but on where you're not from (in this case, you're not Japanese), which is why gaijin has that pejorative connotation; it means that you are not one of us. But it can be extended to Japanese of other origin such as the burakumin.

Even Japanese who have spent a significant part of their lives outside of Japan can be seen as outsiders, though not always in a negative light. Due to this, their names are no longer usually written with the usual kanji, but with katakana characters, those used for words of foreign origin. Even people born in Brazil and Peru of Japanese descent, and whose first and last names are Japanese, often have their names written in katakana when they go to Japan.