“This is obvious; with the majority of Japanese society being made up of Japanese people (around 98%), I stick out like a sore thumb. [...] Even if my Japanese becomes indistinguishable from a native’s, I change my name and have plastic surgery such that I looked and sounded like a Japanese person”

I would like to bring attention to the fact that you have used “Japanese people” to refer to people of Japanese blood.

This is how “Japanese people” use the term “Japanese”, and they don't think of “Japanese” as being a person who has Japanese citizenship. In America things are different of course, but that's just one of the cultural differences that exist between the countries. It's not that American society is more “advanced”, as some seem (mostly American people) seem to understand it; it's simply different.

I believe that understanding this idea is absolutely essential to integrating in Japan and it is a type of thinking that Debito seems to have missed out on during his many years in Japan.

Personally I use the word gaijin all the time, and my Japanese friends all use it. I really don't find it any more offensive than the word “foreigner”, which has *exactly* the same meaning (a person who is foreign: from outside). Some of my Japanese friends use “jap” to refer to themselves, which I found a little strange at first, but as mentioned in the article it really comes down to intonation: it's not what you say it's how you say it.

That being said, there are lots of English words thrown around in Japan that maybe people should explain to them in further detail. Listening to Japanese hip hop, I have heard the N word thrown about on many occasions and it actually makes me a little uncomfortable because I know they don’t understand the long, bitter, historic context of that term…It’s use in Japanese Hip Hop is more of a US Rap-Copycat, or so I believe (someone can feel free to give me a little more light on this because I’m not 100% on that.)

Maybe it’s just because I’m an anthropologist that I force myself to move on quickly if I think I’m being insulted. Certainly the issue is not a simple debate and I think exploring it with this kind of discussion is a good way of talking about it. As always, the meanings of words shift and change with time, space and context….which is why I never went into a linguistics sub-field because the complicated effects of these things is a bit too overwhelming for me as a researcher! lol.

“Perhaps I have not yet reached that stage? Perhaps I am kidding myself thinking that I can integrate into Japanese society to the extent that I do not feel like a complete outsider..?” – I know exactly what you mean…

I agree with whoever said that there is a debate only because people come from different backgrounds, and thus interpret things differently.

Unlike a lot of the other foreigners I’ve met at this the start of my first year in Japan as an ALT, I have already been an immigrant once. I was a Permanent Resident Alien of the U.S. for over 10 years before deciding to take American citizenship. As such, I was already used to being a foreigner. I think that’s why, if people were to call me “gaijin” (now that I think of it, I haven’t been called gaijin much, to my knowledge) it wouldn’t bother me as long as the person saying it was not trying to be malicious. Although I did think it was rather ironic when someone said to someone else, “Oh, it’s a gaikokujin!” at the Catholic church I go to. Even if deities transcend nation states, the setting made the comment seem really funny!

Peace.

@hoihoi 個人的には「外人」という言葉は別に問題ではないのですが、その言葉に深く結び付いている固定観念は毎日毎日直面すると面倒くさくなります。