When I last went to Tokyo and chit chatted at the ear cleaning salon, the staff was very careful to self-correct when talking about foreigners as 外国の方 (Gaikoku no Kata) instead of the usual term I kept hearing and using, 外人 (Gaijin).
It appears that the term is being blacklisted as a slur in recent years by regular people. Did Japan gO wOke? :neocat_confused:
But seriously, it's not like foreigners found the term offensive. At least it's better than the term 'Alien' on the old immigration cards.
I think it’s fine for immigrants/foreigners to use with other 外人, but I prefer not to be called it by a non-外人 (and I use 外国人 when talking to them) because it immediately tells me the person, at best, has given zero critical thought to the language they use and, at worst, rides around in black vans for fun.
There is also a whole other icky aspect of which foreigners are 外人 😬
@FlockOfCats@raytheonrainbowmissile
Yeah, I can understand that. But the fact that the staff accidentally said Gaijin and corrected himself implies that they have not fully replaced the term internally, it was accidentally said when we were conversing in Japanese. It'll probably be something the next generation will have to deal with, I guess.
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