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gaijin

Alien (Gaijin)

There have been, and are, several reasons for this site.  But I think ultimately the reason I created and still write in this site is to help me work out stuff by writing, and I just so happen to do it publicly sometimes.  I need to do that now.  So, here we go. If I were to give a word to how I have felt throughout my entire life, I think I would use the word “isolation”.  The Japanese word “gaijin” really does encompass in many ways how I feel… Read More »Alien (Gaijin)

Gaijin

I heard a story. This is a story that appeared on one of the Reddit subreddits that are dedicated to stories.  It could have been MaliciousCompliance, or ProRevenge.  I can’t remember.  It’s not important. Our protagonist was working at a Japanese company somewhere in California.  The managers there were Japanese nationals, and the employees were gaijin.  As far as the Japanese managers knew, no one there could speak Japanese. So they basically ran roughshod over everyone.  It finally came to a head when a manager who had it in for the… Read More »Gaijin

Why I Could Never be Japanese

A couple of weeks ago and a few posts ago, I wrote about a part of Japanese history and culture that really bothered me.  Nothing in it was unfactual to the best of my knowledge, though I was perhaps a little harsher than… No.  No I wasn’t.  That was a topic that I was actually holding back on a bit. I still lost two followers.  I don’t think I’ve lost 4% of followers from one post on any blog, ever. It’s not so much that I keep track of these… Read More »Why I Could Never be Japanese

It is time.

It is a stormy day in Round Rock, Texas today. My Japanese teacher has decided that she now only wants to speak to the small group of people I learn with, in Japanese.  I don’t like this, but I think it may be necessary.  I’ve been feeling a little stuck lately – and I have no confidence in anything but the most basic written and spoken Japanese – so I don’t want to.  But I’m going to see what I can do. That means, I think that it’s probably time… Read More »It is time.

Gaijin

I don’t have any tattoos.  In fact, I think tattoos are ugly and I would never intentionally get one.  Why one would intentionally blemish their skin like that is beyond me. (and if you disagree, then go ahead, but this is my opinion and I’m sticking to it). I haven’t put a lot of thought into the topic, but lately a particular image has been sticking out at me, about what I would get as a tattoo, if I ever somehow decided to get one. Here it is. 外人 This… Read More »Gaijin

Gaijin?

When I first created this blog, I had a nearly infinite choice of things to call it.  I could have called it, oh, I dunno…  “Musings on Japanese”, or “My Japanese Journey”, or a whole bunch of stuff.  But I settled on this one.  In fact, it really wasn’t even all that much of a decision.  This was the right name. But why, when the word “gaijin” had less than savory origins, and some may still find it offensive? The literal meaning of gaijin (外人) is “outsider”, or, literally, “outside… Read More »Gaijin?