Gaijin Debate #01

Tomo 🍂⛰ @tomoakiyama

RACIST: "Gaijin lack the taste buds to appreciate #Japanese food." NOT RACIST: "Which is your CEO?" "That gaijin with glasses."

Greg Bell 鍾瑞歌 @zhongruige

@tomoakiyama Seems a lot of foreigners don't like actually being called foreigners for some reason.

Tomo 🍂⛰ @tomoakiyama

@zhongruige Right... gai = 'foreign' jin = '-er.' It's more about the speaker's intention and context.

Greg Bell 鍾瑞歌 @zhongruige

@tomoakiyama It's all about context, and it's usually just an easier way to describe the person.

Greg Atkinson @GregAtkinson_jp

@tomoakiyama Lol, some people call anything racist.

rem @remino

@tomoakiyama The first statement nears more ignorance than racism. Racism is something quite subjective.

Tomo 🍂⛰ @tomoakiyama

@remino Yeah, many people from other countries confuse Japanese innocent ignorance with conscious, ideology-driven racism.

rem @remino

@tomoakiyama Did you just say something racist about me?

Tomo 🍂⛰ @tomoakiyama

@remino Haha I said "many"!

rem @remino

@tomoakiyama BTW, who said that? When I read statements like that before coming here, I had the impression Japan might be filled w/ racism.

smacklooshis @smacklooshis

@tomoakiyama personally I think it's who says it and how it's said. That 2nd one could be disrespectful in context.

Tomo 🍂⛰ @tomoakiyama

@smacklooshis Agreed - my point was it's more about the context and the speaker's intention.

Michael Gakuran 📸 @gakuranman

@tomoakiyama Personally, I'd still say the latter is distasteful. CEO is important and 'gaijin' is way too casual and crude to use.

Harvey @JapanNewbie

@gakuranman If I heard, あのメガネをかけている外人さん。I wouldn't think anything of it. @tomoakiyama

Michael Gakuran 📸 @gakuranman

@JapanNewbie Yeah, さん neutralises it mostly. Without san it sounds terrible though. @tomoakiyama

Tomo 🍂⛰ @tomoakiyama

@gakuranman @JapanNewbie The images you associate with the word might be different from mine - to me it's not that casual/crude.

Jesse Johnson @jljzen

@tomoakiyama have u ever seen the ハロー外人 glasses and nose set they sell in the costume sections of most novelty stores?

Bret・ブレット @BretMayer

@JapanNewbie @tomoakiyama I agree with @gakuranman & would rather hear [country name]人 instead of "everyone not us is 外人"

Eli is Staying Inside Playing Games @eli_games_

RT @BuSensei: @JapanNewbie @tomoakiyama I agree with @gakuranman & would rather hear [country name]人 instead of "everyone not us is 外人"

Evie 🐉 Redding (hiatus) @Evie_Redding

RT @BuSensei: @JapanNewbie @tomoakiyama I agree with @gakuranman & would rather hear [country name]人 instead of "everyone not us is 外人"

Tomo 🍂⛰ @tomoakiyama

@BuSensei @JapanNewbie @gakuranman We wish we could specify the nationality just by looking at them. It's like "an Asian" in English.

Jesse Johnson @jljzen

@BuSensei @JapanNewbie @tomoakiyama @gakuranman 外人って漢字から見るとなんだか外の人みたいな寂しいニュアンスがついてるんじゃない？

Tomo 🍂⛰ @tomoakiyama

@jljzen @BuSensei @JapanNewbie @gakuranman Technically it's the same as the English word "foreigner"; Foreign = 外 -er = 人

Tomo 🍂⛰ @tomoakiyama

@jljzen I don't know if I'd call it racist but that thing comes from ignorance and indifference. Your beer looks good btw...

smacklooshis @smacklooshis

@tomoakiyama: @jljzen @BuSensei @JapanNewbie @gakuranman I think it's more like the German "auslander." I'd never say foreigner in English