What Does It Mean To Be A Foreigner In Japan?
The Japan Times is a daily English newspaper here that struggles hard to be relevant. Some of its articles help us to understand the country (I like the environmental news) but other writers are really not up to the mark.
Point in case: in early August, an American-born English teacher who is now a Japanese citizen wrote that the Japanese word "gaijin" is the same as the American word "nigger". I find that really hard to believe. In Japanese, there are several words to say "foreigner". Gaijin is a short form for gaikokujin - a person that comes from a foreign country. Leave "country" out and you have "a foreigner" or gaijin. Gaikokujin is thus similar to words in many other languages, such as Swedish (utlänning) or German (Auslander). Hmm, it makes me wonder what the English word "foreigner" really means, politically correct Latin roots perhaps?!
The Japan Times should stop publish drivel from people who don't understand Japan. Even if the English teacher in this case has gotten Japanese citizenship, the author seems to have trouble understanding basic Japanese: "gaijin" is NOT the same as "nigger" in the country of his birth.
'nuff said.
The Japan Times: Once a 'gaijin,' always a 'gaijin'
The Japan Times: Readers respond: Once a 'gaijin,' always a 'gaijin'?
Point in case: in early August, an American-born English teacher who is now a Japanese citizen wrote that the Japanese word "gaijin" is the same as the American word "nigger". I find that really hard to believe. In Japanese, there are several words to say "foreigner". Gaijin is a short form for gaikokujin - a person that comes from a foreign country. Leave "country" out and you have "a foreigner" or gaijin. Gaikokujin is thus similar to words in many other languages, such as Swedish (utlänning) or German (Auslander). Hmm, it makes me wonder what the English word "foreigner" really means, politically correct Latin roots perhaps?!
The Japan Times should stop publish drivel from people who don't understand Japan. Even if the English teacher in this case has gotten Japanese citizenship, the author seems to have trouble understanding basic Japanese: "gaijin" is NOT the same as "nigger" in the country of his birth.
'nuff said.
The Japan Times: Once a 'gaijin,' always a 'gaijin'
The Japan Times: Readers respond: Once a 'gaijin,' always a 'gaijin'?
Comments
He could just as easily embrace this position and try to understand this phenomena of the modern Japanese state. Instead, he likens the world "gaijin" to "n--ger", which is intellectually dishonest and frankly a bit revolting.
For me, the status of "gaijin" has been beneficial to research I'm doing in a small village in Nagano. If I wasn't an outsider, I don't think people would talk to me as openly as they do about insider issues. Never have I felt rejected or looked down upon though because of my foreignness. My status as a researcher is very much respected by everyone.
I'm really not sure where Arudou is coming from, perhaps time to get out of Tokyo (that haven of enlightened Japan. . .?) for a bit.
Here's a link to my blog about the work I'm doing.
He promotes "NJ" (non-Japanese) as an alternative to "gaijin". That just shows how little he understands his new home. Try asking your Japanese friends about the nuance of 非日本人 (hi-nihonjin, non-Japanese). It is really negative. Or since that could still be taken to reference race, perhaps Debito would prefer 非国民 (hikokumin)? That's a lovely little word that would make it clear you are not a citizen...
Mary, you are quite right, and I have changed that sentence. Drivel it is.
"As an African-American living in Japan, I can assure you that the connotations associated with 'nigger' are utterly incomparable to the harmless epithet of 'gaijin'."
Sincerely.
But language is at the foundation of how we express our thoughts and feelings, and so should evolve and be sensitive to our understanding and the feelings of people. Why otherwise do words like N...r fall out of favour?
Debito is not saying that the G...word is exactly the same as the N...word, nor has all the shameful and bad associations of the latter, but is using it as a comparison of a word commonly known to be a pejorative. The intention with which one uses a word can be taken as irrelevant when that word alone causes upset or injury to a minority. I do agree that most Jspanese do not use the word with the intention to injure, but that injury can take place nevertheless. I feel it is time for people in Japan to become aware of this and make the effort to try to understand and be more sensitive in their choice of language.
Counter that with Martin Luther King who also fought for equal rights. MLK is world famous for his uplifting and positive speaches. His "I have a Dream" speach being one of the greates speaches in history.
Debito no doubt will state he should not be compared to MLK. That's fine. But if his goal is to create change and encourage people join his cause, he would do well to emulate MLK's positive attitude.
Debito will never achieve much with his negative, angry attitude.
"The intention with which one uses a word can be taken as irrelevant when that word alone causes upset or injury to a minority." Um, NO. Just because a certain minority of non-native speakers take it upon themselves to pull a made-up definition out of their butt (a definition which the native speakers of that language hear and say "How the hell did you get THAT?!?" does not mean everyone else has to change.
"I do agree that most Jspanese do not use the word with the intention to injure, but that injury can take place nevertheless. " Well if any "injury" is taking place, it is entirely self-inflicted. Get over it.
"I feel it is time for people in Japan to become aware of this and make the effort to try to understand and be more sensitive in their choice of language." And most of us who actually live here feel it is time for certain folks to grow up, stop making up definitions for words based on their own insecurities and stop demanding the "right to be offended."
"I left Japan after having become discouraged with all the fuss about "foreigners" and "we Japanese"." I thank you for that, you made the right choice. There are enough self-important drama queens over here already. I suspect you are another case of what was talked about onj another blog - someone driven to distraction by being called "foreigner" because you have never been one before and couldn't deal with the experience. Fine, adapting to a new country isn't for everyone. But don't tell those of us who have adapted, or worse yet, the natives of that country, that they have to drop everything and change just so you can pretend you aren't something that you are.
I couldn't agree more.
I suspect that you, whoever you are, are the one with some kind of agenda. Such hateful responses are what lead me to assume that.
I was born in 1950 and white Americans (including yours truly) have racist ideas in their heads due to our history whether admitted or not - even though those of us who are of a liberal bent oppose racism and have fought against it for a lifetime. The fact is, we have to deal with it and fight it all the time. No white person understands what it is to be black in America. Period.
I've been in Japan several years and experienced varying degrees of xenophobia from Japanese people here and there (in my home city I've felt nothing but acceptance). The xenophobia of some others whom I've encountered does not compare at all with the cultural racial situation in the USA.
Perhaps my decades of experience from living in Hawaii - the most cosmopolitan state in the USA - where peoples of many races, religions, and cultures live in harmony, has something to do with my attitude. But gaijin=nigger? No way.