What the Fxxx is “Gaijin”?

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This article is about a Japanese word for "foreigner".

Gaijin (外人?[ɡaid͡ʑiɴ]) ("outside person") is a Japanese word for foreigners and non-Japanese. The word is composed of two kanjigai (?, "outside") and jin (?, "person"). Similarly composed words that refer to foreign things include gaikoku (外国?, "foreign country") and gaisha (外車?, "foreign car"). The word can refer to nationalityrace, or ethnicity, concepts generally conflated in Japan.

Some feel the word has come to have a negative or pejorative connotation, while other observers maintain it is neutral or even positive. Gaikokujin (外国人 "foreign-country person"?) is a more neutral and somewhat more formal term widely used in the Japanese government and in media.

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