Gaijin

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 (外国人) 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 ('within-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 and 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. 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.

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

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 |publication-date = 2000 |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 |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 | publication-date = 1976 | 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 | 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 | 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 | url-access = subscription | contribution-url =http://members.jcom.home.ne.jp/yosha/minorities/Foreigners_in_Japan.html | title-link = Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan | 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 | url-access = registration

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 | url-access = registration

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).

Foreign residents in Japan

Main article: Demography of Japan#Foreign residents

Notes

References

References

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5. (May 2021). "Metamorphosis: Stages in a Life". Stoddart.
6. 高木. 市之助. 岩波書店. (1959)
7. A. 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」"
8. 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〉"
9. (1998). "外人". [[Iwanami Shoten Publishing.
10. {{in lang. ja [http://www.noh-kyogen.com/story/ka/kuramatengu.html 鞍馬天狗] {{Webarchive. link. (2008-02-08 , Ohtsuki Noh Theatre.)
11. 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」"
12. (2012). "The Disruptive Presence of the Namban-jin in Early Modern Japan". Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient.
13. Curvelo, Alexandra. (2001). "Nagasaki - An European artistic city in early modern Japan". Bulletin of Portuguese - Japanese Studies.
14. (2018). "Japanese-Dutch Relations in the Tokugawa Period". Transactions of the Japan Academy.
15. 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
16. 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
17. "Results of Special Tabulation on Foreigners". [Japan Statistics Bureau].
18. (2006). "The cultural exclusiveness of Ethnocentrism: Japan's treatment of foreign residents". iUniverse.
19. Lie, John. "Zainichi (Koreans in Japan): Diasporic Nationalism and Postcolonial Identity".
20. Moritz, Charlie. (2018-01-11). "Is The Word Gaijin Actually Racist? {{!}} Live Work Play Japan".
21. (2010-08-10). "Yakuza 3 reviewed by Yakuza".
22. Buckley, Sandra. (2002). "Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture". Taylor and Francis.
23. Thomas Dillon, [http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20051224td.html "Born and raised a 'gaijin'] {{Webarchive. link. (2008-03-10 , ''Japan Times'', December 24, 2005)