Is "Gaijin" a Racist Slur?

[ginyu]

heliobacter are you Japanese?

Obviously not. But words like 'Gaijin' with similar impact can be found in many languages I know, like German, French and English.

I really appreciate your effort to explain how this word can be associated with socio-psychological issues in Japanese society, but I think we're talking about people who feel discredited when they're called 'Gaijin', and not why Japanese people got the right to use it. And no doubt there are plenty of persons who don't like being called a 'Gaijin', just browse the forums.

 

[KirinMan]

Obviously not. But words like 'Gaijin' with similar impact can be found in many languages I know, like German, French and English.
I really appreciate your effort to explain how this word can be associated with socio-psychological issues in Japanese society, but I think we're talking about people who feel discredited when they're called 'Gaijin', and not why Japanese people got the right to use it. And no doubt there are plenty of persons who don't like being called a 'Gaijin', just browse the forums.

Oh please don't misunderstand me, I realize that there are a few, maybe many, foreigners here in Japan that take offense at being called a "gaijin". I just don't happen to be one of them.

I think part of the reason for that is that I learned Japanese pretty much the same way a child learns any language, through immersion, and was/am able to understand many of the nuances of the language itself.

I think that you might find that people who can truly understand Japanese, not just reading and writing but spoken as well, really have no problem with the word as it is because they can understand the differences or nuances of the language and realize that there really isn't any intentional discrimination intended by the Japanese people that use the word.

I have, through my experience here found that people that usually take offense at the word have either a limited knowledge of the language or have learned to speak the language somewhere other than here in Japan.

I also notice that many of the members here that understand and speak the language, from what I have seen so far anyway, usually refrain from posting on this thread/topic. From my point of view I think that is because they realize that no matter how much they attempt to explain themselves and the "actual" meaning and use of the word, outside of the idiots that choose to use it as an expletive, there really isn't any overt discrimination intended when used by an average Japanese person. PLUS the "gaijin" that get their knickers in a bundle about it in many cases still smell of jet fumes.

 

[KirinMan]

but I think we're talking about people who feel discredited when they're called 'Gaijin',

I really understand that, I don't know how many are here but I have been living and working in this country for a long, long, long time. In fact some of the people posting here were not born when I first came to Japan.

In my opinion the people that feel discredited about being called "gaijin" are the ones that come over here with a chip on their shoulders expecting life here to be pretty much the same as their country of origin. They get upset and disenfranchised because things here are not what they expected and they look to find excuses to lay the blame of their own disatisfaction with the country of Japan and it's people.

Many from what it sounds like to me, do not take the time to look in the mirror and "think". Many are too eager to blame someone else and to use that frustration to brand the entire country as either being ignorant or misguided in it's treatment of foreigners.

 

[Thunderthief]

Its like saying "foreigner" not really racist, but a little on the rude side. I mean when a Japanese comes to the states we don't go "Hey look its a foreiger! Your a foreigner right? Hey look dude its a foreigner."

Rude yes, Racist no ...

I know its not intended to be rude, but the little voice in my head always tells me that is. However Japanese, much like small children don't realize its offensive, so you usually take it with a grain of salt and try to ignore it, or just nod your head.

 

[respectable_canuck]

GAIJIN is not complimentary

My guess as to why we would use it would be that we want to, ironically, show that we are a part of the Japanese circle by showing a knowledge of the language and how it's used, but perhaps it also shows a sense of comaraderie amongst non-Japanese and serves to bring us closer together and comfort us....

Don't mean to take someone's post out of context with selective quoting and sorry if it perhaps renders their meaning somewhat niave ...
With the fair bit of bad feeling a large number of foreigners cause here in Japan, i doubt that GAIJIN will ever be a word to identify with. But i'm sure it is inevitable that many will suffer from such a grouping and labelling...though personally i am not content with the fact that i am lumped together with every other white guy simply because i am white...i mean the fact that i resemble a foreigner does not mean i am one! And, why should i have to bear the cross for someone else's bad behavior? What i mean is that in this country-much more than elsewhere- with a word like GAIJIN, it is easy to bring up a clear image of others with distinctly negative connotations.

...here's an example if anyone cares to read on:

Tonight i went out to get a Kilkenny draft ( basically the only reason i go to a certain bar, and had a troubling conversation with a Japanese guy (pretty decent fellow actually...oh, and he has travelled the world apparently...even Bosnia). A few things he said clearly revealed the tendency people have to prejudge others. He is a bit sad, he said, to see foreigners chatting up Japanese girls ( the assumption being that guys think girls are easy...and that all and every guy has a one track mind) Later he told me about these African guys who stand out on the street propositioning passing girls AND selling weed...
Perhaps he is simply an envious *** who sits at the bar and watches guys score time and time again, but i think his position or point of view vis a vis foreigners is indicative of the problem facing most of us here in Japan: integration
If what he said is true, then:
Are white guys just wolves and pigs??
Are black guys reluctant to enter bars??
Are we all quite simply unwanted out on the town at night??
i mean it's really stupid to think a guy can't be friendly in a pub, for chrissake!
( incidentally, did you know about a recent law in Tokyo (municipal law) that cites as harrassment any dialogue on the street with a passing woman? This law now exists to protect them from professional snack and soapland scouts...)
Perhaps soon drinking establishments will start to segregate customers...
Hey guys, next time you meet a nice girl at the bar don't leave her to go take a pee. The barman(gaijin or japanese) might just profit from your absence to tell her you are a dangerous sexfiend...well that could happen anywhere in the world really...
"You know i really dislike crows. They squack and flutter about and they peck at the trash and i just wonder if there is any way we can eliminate them from my town...or even the nation! All crows are bad, right? "Well i guess foreign sexfiends are a real pain too, but let's be thankful they're only picking up garbage..."
Do ya get it?

 

[CplAaronClarkUSMC]

Ethical I dont know, however in the situation you wrote here could not technically occur because Japan doesnt recognize dual citizens as you correctly noted. What you wrote is a contradiction itself.
I understand the point you want to make but to take the citizenship of the US means that they would have to give up their Japanese one, hence the need to carry the "gaijin" card.
What do you think about the Japanese couples that take themselves to the US to give birth to their children just to get them the American citizenship, which of course the child will have to decide to either keep or toss away after they turn 21.
@Sukotto
Basically yes. It is a non-issue to me personally.
I truly have a difficult time understanding why "gaijin" people living here in Japan or not here in Japan get so upset about it?
This "topic" is another one of the things that make me often wonder about why people come to Japan to live if they get so upset about something as trivial as the word "gaijin"
To each his or her own I guess.
Happy New Year!

Obeika, I heard that people get upset because the Japanese have a strong attachment to self-identity with their citizenship, that they only realize when they lose it. Feeling like a foreigner in their own homeland and place of birth makes them feel like an outsider, a concept that the Japanese feel ashamed about.
To me, from the outside, I see it the same as our requirements of aliens needing to carry around an legal alien registration card in the USA. It never happened to me, because I was born an American, and never tried naturalizing anywhere else. However, I do know of a Japanese person who cried when they had their passport taken at an airport when they were caught having a second nationality. They felt betrayed, and hurt. To some Japanese, they feel that they have lost a piece of themselves, I guess.

 

[bexchurnside]

There is currently no way for the Japanese government to know whether you possess a passport issued by another country or not. As long as each time you travel you use the same passport to enter the country as you did to leave the country, there will be no problem. Now if you leave Japan under a US passport and try to reenter under a Japanese passport, you might get caught!

Actually, there is. If one leaves Japan for Canada lets say, using a Japanese passport only but only showing the Canadian citizenship card, this might appear to be okay. However, when one re-enters Japan, and one returns after 90 days, they will ask you if you have overstayed your visa in Canada and what not in Japan. They will ask you how you stayed in Canada, etc. So if you have no visa, they will ask Canada, and you can get caught. You might be able to keep your nationality, if you can accept the fact that Japan might not let you leave Japan for some period of time. (Remember, in their mind, you aren't a Canadian when playing this game).

Does anyone know any incidents where one's passport was taken away being caught?

 

[thistle]

Its like saying "foreigner" not really racist, but a little on the rude side. I mean when a Japanese comes to the states we don't go "Hey look its a foreiger! Your a foreigner right? Hey look dude its a foreigner."
Rude yes, Racist no ...


There, Thunderthief, you hit the nail on the head!

Rude yes, Racist no....

Is there still more to talk about on the subject?

And, Obeika, I too was immersed in the language, for more than 2 years, and the Japanese (except for the uneducated kids in Itoman), know that it is rude to say 'Gaijin', especially to your face. Unless they are uneducated.

 

[KirinMan]

And, Obeika, I too was immersed in the language, for more than 2 years, and the Japanese (except for the uneducated kids in Itoman), know that it is rude to say 'Gaijin', especially to your face. Unless they are uneducated.

Thistle times that number by 10 and you'll "hit" the number I am at.

Well you know that most of them are "uneducated" about issues like this because contrary to public opinion even here in Okinawa kids from different parts of the island have different levels of exposure to "foreigner's". This is particularly true about kids on the "southern" end and to a certain extent the northern portion of the island as well.

 

[thistle]

I said I was immersed in the language for 2 years, times that by 10 and
that is the number of years I have been here also!

Yes, you are right though, it is due to their unexposure to foreigners, but of
course, there are never parents around to educate them and teach them, that it is rude to point and shout 'gaijin', but even if they are around they still do not teach them. I lived in 'Nishizaki' for 5 years and got tired of trying to educate those kids.

 

[ginyu]

Oh please don't misunderstand me, I realize that there ...

I think I got your point now. People who mastered the Japanese language know the word's non-offensive tenor. The major cause for the whole controversy are apparently misunderstandings on both sides.

As always, there are many standpoints, in German we say 'The truth lies anywhere in between'.

Thank You for letting me see things from another point of view.

 

[KirinMan]

Yes, you are right though, it is due to their unexposure to foreigners, but of
course, there are never parents around to educate them and teach them, that it is rude to point and shout 'gaijin', but even if they are around they still do not teach them. I lived in 'Nishizaki' for 5 years and got tired of trying to educate those kids

The parents are the one's that need the educating more than the kids. To many of the parents it is a non-issue so they don't see the "rudeness" behind what their kids are saying. They are just as "guilty" if not so more because at least they have had or should have had a better understanding of issues such as this. Mostly the kids just pattern their actions after their parents or grandparents.

I said I was immersed in the language for 2 years, times that by 10 and
that is the number of years I have been here also!

What I was attempting to say is that I am still immersed in the language to this day. My current living situation is such that I probably use Japanese 99% of my average day. The only exception to that is when I am at home and am talking to my kids, but then that is also a mixture of both as well, as I live with the "in-laws" and have been for over 15 years now.

Odds are we have "seen" each other here somewhere or another. Cheers! The island is just too small not to have. Next time you see a pretty tall, @6'4" goatee'd America-gaijin wondering around Mihama JUSCO, with a stunningly beautiful woman, (my wife ) say hi.

 

[KirinMan]

I think I got your point now. People who mastered the Japanese language know the word's non-offensive tenor. The major cause for the whole controversy are apparently misunderstandings on both sides.
As always, there are many standpoints, in German we say 'The truth lies anywhere in between'.
Thank You for letting me see things from another point of view.

Now isn't that the "truth".

To be honest, I think I can understand how people feel about being called foreigner. In my opinion I think it stems from the fact, partially at least, from never having to experience being one until they came here. I also think it is a part of the culture shock that some encounter here because of the great differences between their native country and Japan.

It doesnt make their feelings any less important, yet I just would like "them" to understand that if they, the people that take such serious offense at the term, would look at it as a non-issue they may find themselves becoming less sensitive to it and letting it go.

I know it took me an awful long time to get over many different "culture" things here. Personally I find getting stared at much more invasive than the word "gaijin". But then again when I feel, invaded, , I break out the good ol' evil eye and let them have it.

Never seems to fail.

Thanks for sharing you thoughts here, I enjoy conversations like this with people that are level headed. Thanks again!

 

[Sukotto]

As always, there are many standpoints, in German we say 'The truth lies anywhere in between'.

Does that mean that any point in between the stand points is truth, but the standpoints are distinctly not?

Where as, 'The truth lies somewhere in between' would mean there is one specific thing in between the standpoints that is the truth.


isn't language fun

 

[ginyu]

Does that mean that any point in between the stand points is truth, but the standpoints are distinctly not?
Where as, 'The truth lies somewhere in between' would mean there is one specific thing in between the standpoints that is the truth.
isn't language fun

Jeez, you're right! Thanks for reading my posts so attentively pal!

 

[Sukotto]

linguistics or philosophy?

or some matter of 20,000 more combat troops, which would require another XX thousand non-combat troops.

just another point of view.

let's watch more ghost in the shell,
subbed or dubbed? or original?

hehehe, i'm such a dork. "Sau-cerrrr, Saucer.."

 

[thistle]

Odds are we have "seen" each other here somewhere or another. Cheers! The island is just too small not to have. Next time you see a pretty tall, @6'4" goatee'd America-gaijin wondering around Mihama JUSCO, with a stunningly beautiful woman, (my wife ) say hi.

I've no doubt we have, but there are many foreign men wandering about Mihama Jusco with beautiful japanese women.......you just got me curious as to what it is you do if you use japanese 99% of the day!

 

[ryu_the_seeker]

ﾅ?Oﾂ人(Gaijin) simply means foreigner. This term is oftenly used not with racially offensive intentions but with curiosity about mysterious foreigners' appearance, language, behavior or nature (yes, even you are mysterious to many Japanese) because Japan is almost homogeneous race society and there is rare chance to encounter different race.

I think it is similar to adoration and dread for space alien. Although it may be rude, we cannot help being curious

 

[Amos]

My view is that the term Gaijin in itself is not racist. If I go to Japan I am a foreigner after all.

I think the racism or otherwise comes in how the term is used. If it is used in a discriminatory way then that behaviour is racist, not the word itself.

I think the trouble is though, once you start grouping people together, you have the basis for treating them as all the same, rather than individuals based on their own merits. It can also lead to blaming other races for problems. This sort of thing is not just limited to Japan though.

 

[justin]

I would say that gaijin itself isn't a racist slur, but some people use it as such.

 

[ryu_the_seeker]

I watched a movie "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" last night which was recommended by Turky guy I met in MMORPG. I am posting here again because the term "gaijin" is completely used as a racist slur in the movie. Even there is a cut Japanese high school students gang black guy up because he is "gaijin". Frankly, I felt anger toward the movie director for advertising wrong image of Japan to all over the world. I suspect he and his staff think "gaijin" is transformed version of "negro" or "hayeater". I am curious where did they get the idea. Anyone have any idea what made them think "gaijin" is racist slur?

 

[Kirie_Maiden]

It is probably the fact that people can be racist when using the term, considering, although it means outsider, it can be used in that kind of way. In a kind of, "What are you doing here, you outsider" fashion. It probably could be used as racist slur, but that is not what it is originally supposed to mean... at least that is what I am guessing. It's like the term Paki for the British. It should mean people from Pakistan, but it is now taken to be a racist slur for any asian person.

 

[pipokun]

I think Japan is a loud-speaker friendly country without hate crimes.
A foreign resident who sued the Tokyo local govenement said something like "Japan is a racist country. It is useless for gaijin to work here. We are like a robot", even though she gets a job in the public sector here...
If she want to climb up the bureaucrat ladder, all she should do is just to be naturalised here.
Japanese nationals are liable
to work
to pay tax
to educating kids
That's all.

When hate crimes are rampant in the future, I will be glad to support the gaijin right activist.

 

[oonter]

Hmm... interesting topic

 

[Goldiegirl]

I truly believe that it is racist. I know I have written this before, but my Japanese in-laws, friends, would never, ever call me gaijin. I am America-jin. The word itself may not have been originally racist but that is the meaning now...just as in the other thread the word "Jap" stirs up similar controversy.