外人 vs. 外国人

外人 (gaijin) vs. 外国人 (gaikokujin). What's the big difference?

Since it came up again the other day, I thought it'd be useful to truly explain the difference to anyone who is not familiar with the terms. Kanji tends to be pretty literal, so sometimes you might miss the little implications of a word. Both gaijin and gaikokujin mean "foreigner," but the meaning depends on where one is in Japan, who they're talking to, and what age the person is in relation to oneself. Let's take a quick look just for a linguistic point-of-view.

A gaijin is literally a "foreign person." Some Japanese will find it not to be offensive, and they'll use the word frequently. It's shorter, easier to say, and you do hear it quite a bit in daily conversation. However, I feel that the majority of people would still label this a discriminatory term. Oddly enough, there seems to be this weird trend among foreigners to use this term to refer to themselves. If they make a mistake, they'll say something along the lines. "Oh, it's ok because I'm a gaijin." There's even a phrase that has popped up called the "Gaijin Smash." Used by foreigners, it refers to doing something that one knows is frowned upon or illegal and getting away with it due to the fact that one is foreign. For this reason, the Japanese are somewhat at a loss. Even though many of them feel that it's discriminatory, they can't seem to get rid of the term because the people who should feel discriminated against keep using it to refer to themselves.

On the other side of the argument is gaikokujin, which means "a person from a foreign country." Across all boards, this word is considered more polite, but it's also considered more formal.

So, there's a problem. Which to use? The one which is considered a form of 差別 (sabetsu), discrimination by many? Or the word which many will agree is more polite, but sounds a little formal between friends? It's up for debate, but this writer's opinion is for using 外国人, gaikokujin.

Of Burakumin

Although I had intended for this to be a happier post infused with some good old-fashioned humor, plans have changed. Instead, I'd like to cover the controversial topic of 被差別部落民, hisabetsu-burakumin. For those of you who have been to Japan, you'll know that this is more than a little difficult to find information on. In fact, the Japanese purposefully will avoid the topic unless you are very close friends. In that case, you will get an honest answer, but the topic will still be somewhat taboo. Luckily, at a university, you are able to learn about such things in class, and then you may talk to your fellow classmates on the subject. Broaching it with someone else though is definitely not recommended.

Burakumin roughly translates to "the sect(ion) of fallen people." These are descendants from Japan's feudal outcast group. Like in many traditional caste societies, the lowest group was compsed of the 穢多 (eta), or those who worked with animal carcasses. These people were therefore tanners, butchers, etc. People with severe diseases such as leprosy could also be put into this group sometimes. They were often segregated from the cities since their work was considered unclean. This therefore led to the stigma that they themselves were unclean.

Interestingly, the Buddhism perpetuated this myth. Although Buddhism normally promotes acceptance of all people, and especially encourages those to feel sympathy toward and help those of lesser status, the case was different for the burakumin. This is because Buddhism, along with Shintoism holds the belief that killing anything will cause a sort of stain. These people therefore were condemned to wander from place to place, separated from the rest of the "clean" society.

The burakumin have been discriminated against in multiple ways. Beside being forced to live in buraku settlements, they were also discriminated against when seeking employment or marriage. When applying for a job, individuals are required to submit their koseki, which in the past was a history of the family lineage, but now just includes the immediate family and the address of the household. Based on the address, employers could check to see if their potential employee was a burakumin or not. If they were, they would immediately be dropped from the prospective employees. The same could be said for marriage investigations. If the individual was found to be a burakumin, the marriage would be cancelled.

In 1871, the burakumin caste system was abolished, and the burakumin were officially freed. Since then, it has been made illegal to discriminate against someone based on whether or not their ancestors were burakumin. Still, even today it was rare for someone to admit to that past. Although things have changed much from their past, that social stigma is hard to forget, so many will keep it a secret.

Although much of the social stigma has faded, it is still an uncomfortable topic for many Japanese. Without a doubt, they have become ashamed of such past treatment. Although some discrimination does still persist among other minority groups, this is mostly hidden from daily view. Unless one is a member of that group and they are in particular parts of the country, the likelihood of encountering discrimination has faded. Of course, it would be wrong of me to say that it has vanished altogether. It is the same with my home country. It is true that things are gradually improving, but there is still a long way to go.

Michelle