Surely the meaning of 'gaijin' is contextual?!

[bakaKanadajin]

Real isn't a myth, I think Japan has certain places where Japanese culture as defined by the Japanese is found more abundantly than others. These locations are designated as 'real' because the Japanese feel they correctly (and conveniently) embody what they wish foreigners to experience. From a foreign perspective, everythings great and exciting but its not necessarily real from a Japanese perspective.

Incidentally, I was speaking with a Japanese friend today and moving back to the original topic, she clearly stated that gaijin was a little 'rude' and that she preferred 'gaikokujin'. However, neither of these specificed anything beyond the fact that the person wasn't Japanese. To specifically describe Westerners, 'hakujin' is sometime used. This, she explained, meant white person, however, it was just as rude as 'gaijin'. She preferred to use their country of origin + jin if the country was known.

 

[KirinMan]

New thread as an offspring from here.......

Where is the "Real" Japan for you?

For everyones information and to prevent this thread from going too far off topic anymore , I apologize as well.

I started the above linked post/poll in the interest of finding our where people think or feel the "real" Japan is.

Please feel free to comment there.

 

[FrustratedDave]

It does not bother me either way, it used to ,but now I see it is just another word. I feel that "political correctness" is a little bit behind here.

I refer to myself and other foreigners as "ﾅ?Oﾂ人" too...

 

[gaijinalways]

I guess it depends on how you define traditional culture. I recommend you visit temples in Kyoto or even Shintamachi in Tokyo. I see a lot of it in the city, what I dislike more is when culture is used as an excuse to discriminate, which is more related to the thread topic.

 

[Glenski]

William Spencer wrote:

my take on manga language is that it is a variation of japanese and with oishinbo e.g. the genre is akin to 'real' life like say that of a soap opera or hoomu dorama

Can we then say that American, British, Canadian, etc. TV dramas use authentic English? Not always. TV has censors, for one thing. Plus, the language itself probably has to have some form of clarity for everyone to be able to understand it (except for that dorky guy on the animated show who mumbles all the time...). Perhaps more TV dramas these days use more authentic English than they used to, but I would hesitate to say that the majority does. I can't believe that.

William,
How about getting back to whatever your topic is? Yes, many of us non-Asian foreigners stand out physically, whether by height, build, hair color, eye color, etc. So...? I thought the point (stemming from what I'd written) was that we are discussed by the locals. We are. You can't disbelieve that, can you?

We are foreigners in a foreign land. We (often) look different. The country is barely out of its self-imposed isolation of >200 years, and it still holds a lot of its feelings of "cultural/racial homogeneity" dear to heart. Enter the gaijin. Throws quite a few things topsy-turvy with some locals. So, they talk. Some idiots like Ishihara will use ancient language pejoratives. Others may simply call us gaijin behind our backs (most of the time). Polite ones will use gaikokujin.

Where do you want this thread to go now?

 

[William Spencer]

Where do you want this thread to go now?

well i was giving this some thought over the weekend. i guess that the original thread regarding the contextual use of gaijin and gaikokujin has vaguely been answered. other possible threads coming out of the conversations were also interesting and i believe that there is still much more to be reflected upon regarding the obliged acknowledgment of other gaijin in a public place.

so i guess the thread will go where it wants since everything changes, nothing stays the same. if you feel that the thread is finished please say so.

one question though: this site seems to be predominantly male contributors to the threads i have read and also mostly below 35yo. i guess that thread topic could change that demographic but for the threads i have read i have counted the men/women participation rate and was surprised that men post more.