Your Gaijin Tips For Enjoying Winter In Japan
By Japaners • Dec 29th, 2007 • Category: Lead Story, Living In Japan
Gaijin or gaikokujin are Japanese words meaning “foreigner.” The words can refer to nationality or ethnicity. The word is often the subject of debate as to its appropriateness, particularly in its shortened form which is considered by some to be offensive. Just thought you’d like to be reminded…
The word gaikokujin is composed of gaikoku (foreign country) and hito/jin, so the word literally means “foreign person.” Gaijin is a common abbreviation of gaikokujin.
Question: Are YOU at all offended by the term Gaijin?
If you are, get over it.
For the rest of us, we’ll share our advice for enjoying the Japanese winter in the comments section below:
Note: Come visit the front page for more of life in Japan - sort of…
Japaners is Living On The Ricefields In Rural Chiba
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Thanks - I’d almost forgotten how much I stick out here.
re: Tips for enjoying winter in Japan
One word - ONSEN!
Love the site.
great site…looking great and with content that makes it even better
Never been to Japan (yet) but to me the Gaijin name is actually quite cool.
Great looking site, lots of good stories too … look forward to reading more.
I found you through JapanSoc and like what I am seeing - I want to see more of your house in Bosu though …. based on my research it looks like a beautiful place and isn’t that where the rice fields are located? I blogged about them a while back (Chiba search of my blog is in the link) - does the picture do them justice?
Seriously though, I will be landing in Makuhari, Chiba in March and am looking forward to avoiding most of the winter issues. But it will still be cold compared to Hawaii….
It depends on my mood whether being called a “Gaijin” offends me….but I refer to myself as a gaijin too! It offends me more when people assume I don’t understand any Japanese and speak to the person I’m with to ask me questions when I perfectly understand what they are saying all the time.
But we get more perks than suckyness with our gaijin power so we can’t complain really…
Stu in Japan