Damn.

Thanks Q!

I always need a reminder that I’m lame paraplegic. Now, how to get best, “fucked in the ass” in Japan….There’s a good inculet legal question.

Tonikaku/anyway, gaijin is in the English dictionary but onculet ain’t in any dictionary, hee, hee.

L8r…

Taro, the certified lame

The Controversy

The use of the word gaijin is often a source of controversy. While the term is not necessarily pejorative, its use can be considered offensive in some circumstances, in part because it is a contraction (and thus less formal than other terms), and in part because of mixed perceptions of its specific meaning. For example, while a non-Japanese person might not object to being referred to as gaikoku no kata (roughly, a person from another country), in some situations—such as a business setting—gaijin would be inappropriately informal. Since there are specific rules for polite speech in Japanese, and since Japanese people are sensitive to differences in nuance of different speech styles, the use of the word gaijin is usually deliberate, that is, it is either deliberately deployed as a pejorative—as in the terms baka-gaijin (stupid foreigner!) or gaijin-kusai (literally, “it stinks of foreigners”); only used when it is assumed that any non-Japanese present will not understand what is being said—asoko no gaijin (”that foreigner over there”); or used only in situations where its intended meaning—whether neutral or otherwise—will not be ambiguous. The standard form in government and media is gaikokujin.

Some non-Japanese also object to the use of gaijin as a form of address (as in gaijin-san). It is common in Japanese to address others by title rather than name. For example, customers are customarily addressed as O-kyaku-sama (”honorable customer”); a person who works in a bookshop might be addressed as Honya-san (Mr. Bookseller); a butcher might be addressed as Nikuya-san (Miss Butcher), and so on. However, addressing others by a physical trait is not usually seen as polite. For example, it would not be acceptable, in most cases, to address someone as Debu-san (Mr. Fatty) or

Megane-san (Ms. Eyeglasses). The term gaijin-san is almost akin to calling someone Mr. Foreigner and especially when combined with Japanese difficulties with intonation, can be objectionable to a neutral non-Japanese. Some object to the word gaijin on the grounds that it is inappropriately broad. Japanese speakers often use gaijin as a convenient catch-all descriptive term. Indeed, many foreigners in Japan refer to themselves and each other as gaijin in certain situations, such as in conversation with Japanese friends, just as many people might describe themselves as “Asian” when speaking English.

Others object to the term based on a literal reading of the kanji with which it is written. While Japanese words, like English ones, are most often more than the sum of their parts, and while the etymology of the word “foreigner” is in fact similar (coming from the Latin foranus, meaning “on the outside”), it is felt by some that the term is overused in the Japanese context, whereas an English speaker might prefer other terms in certain situations. Specifically, since even long-term ex-pats in Japan are referred to as gaijin, many foreigners feel that the word symbolizes their cultural and social exclusion from the Japanese community and the reluctance of some Japanese to accept Japanese citizens of non-Japanese ethnicity and of the government to acknowledge persons of non-Japanese ethnicity as citizens even if they are born in Japan. In contrast, for example, a person from Japan who is a long-term resident of Canada might be called “Japanese-Canadian,” “of Japanese descent,” or even simply “Canadian.” It is also pointed out that gaijin can suggest “stranger,” “outsider,” or even “enemy.” This exclusion from the Japanese “we” can be especially trying to those who have made great adjustments to their behavior to conform to rigorous standards of Japanese etiquette and especially considering that other major powers such as the UK and the US have inclusive conceptions of social identity. Some English speakers point out that even in English the term “foreigner” or worse, “alien,” can have negative implications in certain contexts. For example, it would not usually be considered polite to refer to someone as “the foreign man,” or to describe someone as being “foreign,” particularly when that person is a long-term resident or even citizen of the country. It is pointed out that such phrasing is often chosen for reasons of racism. See also Ethnic issues in JapanEthnocentrismJapanese abbreviated and contracted wordsSangokujinTension between social groups in sento bathhousesZainichiO-yatoi gaikokujin

Related concepts in other languages Allochtoon from DutchLaowai in Mandarin ChineseGweilo, a Cantonese term.Gringo, used in Latin America.

Gaijin is gaijin is gaijin, because it is one of those words which so many subtle meanings that just can’t be translated. Live with it, TIS.

That said, good information.

See the official Japanese MOFA’s Guide “2. Statuses of residence without restrictions on activities in Japan…SPECIFIED VISA” for the “heritage visa” You will need to get more information on this visa by visiting the nearest Japanese consulate or embassy. This is the best visa since you can come here WITHOUT a job, live with Japanese relatives (or on you own), and find a job here which is MUCH easier than tying to get hired from overseas.

However, Japan is in the process of ending ther special visa program for foreigners of Japanese ancestry. foreigners of Japanese descent were treated as privilaged characters. They could do no wrong because they had Japanese blood, hee, hee, according Japan’s 1990 immigration law which established a renewable ‘long-term resident’visa category for non-citizens with Japanese ancestry (Nikkeijin).

Background info…

Immigration Debates, Glocom.org – 2004 08 23, Dr G. Clark
A major source of foreign crime here, namely the Latin Americans (mainly from Brazil and Peru) allowed to remain permanently in Japan simply by virtue of some claim to Japanese ancestry.
Many of these people have low education and few skills; they are clustered in non-Japanese speaking ghettos close to the vehicle factories of Hamamatsu, Aichi and northern Gumma. Their children often drop out of the Japanese education system; many are now unemployable and turn to crime.
The officials who once naively thought that the principle of blood would guarantee quick assimilation into Japanese society bridle at the suggestion that their policies resemble closely the Australian “White Australia” policies — which they used to condemn so bitterly — that were also based on a racial “ease of assimilation” principle.