The topic says it all
notjapanese = gaijin
"Gaijin" (外人, "outside person") is an offensive term; please don't use it. The correct term is "gaikokujin" (外国人 "foreign country person").
And for the most part, we seem to be tolerated. Personally, I've never encountered anything I'd consider as obvert racism or something like that. There are nationalists who want us out, and who want to put the emperor back in power and such, but besides driving around town in garish black buses they don't really do much.
>>3
So you propose that "foreign country person" is more politically correct than "foreign person"? I guess in Canada I'm going to have to start calling all foreign people "foreign country people".
-1.) Look at that foreigner! He's [x]!
-2.) Look at that foreign country person! He's [x]!
It's clear #1 would solicit less responses of "wtf did you just say m8?"
Although I'd be labeled 外人 in Japan, I wouldn't be so offended by it. It's a common and acceptable term, and insistance on 外国人 seems a bit retentive. 外人 is more colloquial.
> -2.) Look at that person from a foreign country! He's [x]!
Fixed, but it still seems unnaturally "politically correct".
いいいいいいいやっほーーーーーーーー
> "Gaijin" (外人, "outside person") is an offensive term; please don't use it. The correct term is "gaikokujin" (外国人 "foreign country person").
So using a different word for something automatically makes it more acceptable? Go back to your hole.
> Fixed, but it still seems unnaturally "politically correct".
Maybe because IT IS!
Allow me to back this up with a quick example:
"All gaijin are Facists who want to control the words we use in everyday conversation!
"All gairokujin are Facists who want to control the words we use in everyday conversation!"
Which one is more offensive? TRICK QUESTION! THEY ARE BOTH OFFENSIVE! USING A DIFFERENT WORD DOESN'T CHANGE WHAT YOU'RE SAYING!!
If you guys are so touchy about whether or not you're called gaijin or gaikokujin or anything at all, you should see some of the stuff people are saying in Japanese in 有色人種隔離スレッド or the densha otoko thread or something. ._.
This board has a bunch of anti-foreign people coming and leaving nasty comments all over it if you didn't notice.
It's pointless to worry about what Japanese people call you -- they'll always call you gaijin and you can't change that so it's better to just accept it and move on :D
Japan is, after all, has the rare trait of being a very developed country that is pretty much homogenous.
How about NEET? Are NEET more accepting of us?
im a half japanese and half american and i used to live in japan when i was small. i used to be called a gaijin cuz my face looks american but i still used gaijin for the foreigners. everybody uses it over there so its a norm.
oh, i forgot to add. for the people against the word "gaijin",what gives you guys the right to complain to all the japanese people about the word when some of you use the word "fob" for the foreigners, especially asians?
>>14
Funny, that's the same faulty logic he used to argue for the continuation of the misproper western usage of the word "hentai" in this thread:
http://wakaba.c3.cx/soc/kareha.pl/1121956450/
i dont exactly understand what you're trying to point out. can you please clarify it a bit more?
i originally said that that the word is used normally. i didn't say that "gaijin" is used as a bad word because from my point of view, it isnt but some people on here/outside take it as a bad thing (which i understand). i was meaning to say that if people DID think that it was an offensive thing, then the logic that i stated would've worked.
Man, what happened here?
ん？
calm down! Chill out!
+me hands out chocolates to everyone in this thread+
I WILL EAT ALL OF YOUR CHOCORATES!! mmm
こういう掲示板で見掛ける差別的な発言ってほとんどネタだろうし、
本気で書いてるやつがいるとしたら頭がおかしいんだろう。
でも、たとえネタでも差別発言はやっぱり許せないもんなのかな。