Gaijin (外人^?, [ɡaidʑiɴ]) is a Japanese word meaning "non-Japanese", or "alien".^[1] The word is composed of two kanji: gai (外^?), meaning "outside"; and jin (人^?), meaning "person" – thus, the word technically means "outsider". There are similarly composed words to refer to foreign things, most fundamentally gaikoku (外国^?, foreign country), but also to various other things such as the common words gaisha (外車^?, foreign car), gaika (外貨^?, foreign cash), and gaitame (外為^?, foreign exchange). The word can refer to nationality, race, or ethnicity, but in Japanese these are generally conflated.

Some modern commentators feel that the word is now negative or pejorative in connotation and thus offensive.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} Other observers indicate that the word can also be used neutrally or positively.^{[3][8][9][10][11]} One scholar suggests that the term has become politically incorrect and is avoided now by some Japanese television broadcasters.^[12] The uncontroversial,^[12] if slightly formal, gaikokujin (外国人^?, foreign-country person), is commonly used instead.^[12] Alternatively, the honorific form gaikoku no kata (外国の方^?, gentleman/gentlewoman of a foreign country) may be used, particularly by middle-aged women.

Etymology and history[link]

The word gaijin is of ancient provenance and was initially not applied to foreigners. It can be traced in writing back to Heike Monogatari, written early in the 13th century:

外人もなき所に兵具をとゝのへ ^[13]

Assembling arms where there are no gaijin^{[note 1]}

Here, gaijin is used to refer to outsiders^[14][15] and potential enemies.^[16] Another early reference is in Renri Hishō (c. 1349) by Nijō Yoshimoto, where it is used to refer to a (Japanese) person who is a stranger, not a friend.^[16] The Noh play, Kurama tengu^[17] also has a dialog where a servant objects to the appearance of a traveling monk:

源平両家の童形たちのおのおのござ候ふに、かやうの外人は然るべからず候

A gaijin doesn't belong here, where children from the Genji and Heike families are playing.

Here, gaijin also means an outsider/stranger or an unknown/unfamiliar person.^[18]

Historically, the Portuguese, the first Europeans to visit Japan, were known as nanbanjin (literally "southern barbarians"). When British and Dutch adventurers such as William Adams arrived in Japan fifty years later in the early 17th century, they were usually known as kōmōjin ("red-haired people"), a term still used in Hokkien Chinese today.

When the Tokugawa shogunate was forced to open Japan to foreign contact, Westerners were commonly referred to as ijin ("different people"), a shortened form of ikokujin ("different country person") or ihōjin ("different motherland people"), terms previously used for Japanese from different feudal (that is, foreign) states.^{[citation needed]} Ketō, literally meaning "hairy Tang", was (and is) used as a pejorative for Chinese and Westerners.^[19]

The word gaikokujin (外国人) is composed of gaikoku (foreign country) and jin (person), so the word literally means "foreign-country person". The term was introduced and popularized by the Meiji government (1868–1912), and this gradually replaced ijin, ikokujin and ihōjin. As the empire of Japan extended to Korea and Taiwan, the term naikokujin ("inside country people") was used to refer to nationals of other territories of the Empire of Japan.^{[citation needed]} While other terms fell out of use after World War II, gaikokujin remained as the official government term for non-Japanese people. The modern word gaijin is held by some writers to be a simple contraction of gaikokujin.^[12]

Usage[link]

Foreigners in Japan in 2000 by citizenship.^[20]

While all forms of the word mean "foreigner" or "outsider", in practice gaikokujin and gaijin are commonly used to refer to racially non-Japanese groups,^[21] principally Caucasians.^{[10][22][23][24][25][26]} However the term is also sometimes applied to ethnic Japanese born and raised in other countries.^[24][27] Gaijin is also commonly used within Japanese professional wrestling to collectively refer to the visiting performers from the west who will frequently tour the country.^[28]

Japanese speakers commonly refer to non-Japanese people as gaijin even while they are overseas. Also, people of Japanese descent native to other countries (especially those countries with large Japanese communities) might also call non-descendants gaijin, as a counterpart to nikkei.^[27]

Historically, some usage of the word "gaijin" referred respectfully to the prestige and wealth of Caucasians or the power of western businesses.^[9][29][30] This interpretation of the term as positive or neutral in tone continues for some.^{[3][4][8][10][11][31][32]} However, though the term may be used without negative intent by many Japanese speakers,^[2] it is seen as derogatory by some^[5][6][7] and reflective of exclusionary attitudes.^{[2][3][12][25][31][33]}

"While the term itself has no derogatory meaning, it emphasizes the exclusiveness of Japanese attitude and has therefore picked up pejorative connotations that many Westerners resent." Mayumi Itoh (1995)^[4]

The term is avoided by mainstream Japanese media whenever possible.^[12][34] Now that gaijin has become somewhat politically incorrect, it is common to refer to non-Japanese as gaikokujin.^[25][34] However if the honorific san is attached to the word Gaijin as Gaijin-san, some^{[citation needed]} see it as a friendly expression.

Gaijin also appears frequently in Western literature and pop culture. It forms the title of such novels as Marc Olden's Gaijin (New York: Arbor House, 1986), James Melville's Go gently, gaijin (New York : St. Martin's Press, 1986), James Kirkup's Gaijin on the Ginza (London: Chester Springs, 1991) and James Clavell's Gai-Jin (New York: Delacorte Press, 1993), as well as a song by Nick Lowe. It is the title of feature films such as Tizuka Yamazaki's Gaijin - Os Caminhos da Liberdade (1980) and Gaijin - Ama-me Como Sou (2005), as well as animation shorts such as Fumi Inoue's Gaijin (2003). It is a recurring word in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006), where it is used to refer to both the main character, an American, and his love interest. The author Ben Mezrich uses the word "gaijin" frequently in his book, Ugly Americans. This is a term used to describe the society of Americans making their living from the Japanese stock market.

Flyjin[link]

Foreigners and the English-language media in Japan coined the comical and/or pejorative term "flyjin" (or fly-jin), a play on the word gaijin, as a label for the non-Japanese who fled Japan in the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Approximately 531,000 non-Japanese in Japan departed the country after the disaster.^{[35][36][37][38]}

Foreign residents in Japan[link]

See also[link]

Look up gaijin in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Look up gaikokujin in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Ausländer
• Pakeha
• Haole
• Japanese abbreviated and contracted words
• Sangokujin

External Links[link]

• A Gaijin in Japan

Notes[link]

1. ^ The 13th-century pronunciation of the characters 外人 is debated; it may have been kotobito (ことびと), udokihito (うどきひと) or gwaijin (ぐわいじん). The spelling gaijin is used here for continuity.

References[link]

Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish are British comedy performers known together as Adam and Joe. They are best known for presenting Adam and Joe on BBC 6 Music, and The Adam and Joe Show on Channel 4 from 1996 to 2001.

History[link]

Adam and Joe began working on comedy material during their time at Westminster School together, where they created numerous amateur films along with their friend Louis Theroux. Some of these films were submitted to Channel 4's home video showcase Takeover TV in 1994 and led to Adam hosting that show in 1995.^[1]

Together they hosted The Adam and Joe Show on Channel 4 from 1996 - 2001. They won the Royal Television Society Best Newcomers Award in 1998, published The Adam and Joe Book in 1999, and presented BBC Three's coverage of the Glastonbury Festival in 2000 and 2002. Other spin-off projects included Adam & Joe's Fourmative Years in 1998 and Adam and Joe's American Animation Adventure in 2001.^[2]

They directed pop promos for Frank Black and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, as well as appearing in two Surf washing powder commercials, in which they comically set upon Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Keith Harris and Orville.^[3]

In 2003, Buxton and Cornish presented Adam and Joe Go Tokyo, a Tokyo-based magazine show covering Japanese pop culture for BBC Three and BBC One.^[4] The same year they began hosting a show on UK radio station Xfm, filling in for Ricky Gervais on Saturday afternoons. When Gervais left the station they took over permanently, and continued to present the Saturday morning show, until Summer 2006. The best parts of these shows were condensed into a series of twenty podcasts.

Bizarrely, their most-repeated^{[citation needed]} is their 2001 E4 series Shock Video, in which the duo provide an often totally irrelevant comic commentary on soft-core porn clips from around the world.

From August 2006 until October 2007, they hosted the monthly "Coca-Cola New Music Podcast", which showcased unsigned bands from around Europe, presented in a similar style to their Xfm shows.

They sometimes write a column for The Idler, a yearly literary magazine.^[5]

Present[link]

Adam and Joe began presenting the BBC 6 Music Saturday morning show in October 2007.

Features on the show include 'Song Wars', where they both compose original compositions based on a common theme. Listeners then vote for which song they think is the best.

'Text the Nation' is another regular feature where listeners provide anecdotes based on a theme or question set by Adam and Joe. Themes have included 'Childhood Misconceptions' and 'Horror Film Ideas'. The 'Text the Nation' feature was also instrumental in the uncovering and subsequent popularisation of the Stephen! call and response.

Their show won a Broadcasting Press Guild Award in 2008 for best radio programme of the year.^[6]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Adam and Joe fansite
• Adam and Joe Blog
• Adam and Joe on BBC 6 Music
• Adam and Joe BBC 6 Music on Facebook
• Rubapedia: online encyclopedia of Adam and Joe
• The Adam and Joe appreciation society on Facebook
• Guardian Online live chat transcript
• Independent Interview