From: davidg@aegis.or.jp (Dave McLane)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan
Subject: Re: What do most of Japanese think of Korean (Re: An open letter..)
Date: 24 Aug 92 01:02:40 GMT
Organization: Aegis Society, Kyoto Japan

sakai@csa.bu.edu (Tsutomu Sakai) writes:

>In article <2455@aegis.or.jp> davidg@aegis.or.jp (Dave McLane) writes:
>>yeonwook@hardy.u.washington.edu (Mark Choi) writes:
>>
>>>Why are the "*jins" degrading? Do they have any specific negative definition?
>>
>>Sure, they aren't Japanese! That's enough, isn't it? 
>>
>>Only (half) kidding :-) But if you look back at what was said by
>>somebody said about being "pure" Japanese, I think you can get the idea.

>     I think what Mr. Dave said was mesleading.  "JIN" in Japanese means
>"human(s)" and "people", etc.  For instance, Japanese call themselves
>"nihonJIN."  The idea is like "America - American" and "Foreign -
>Foreigner."  Nothing related to "pure" Japanese.  No negative meanings,
>either.

Hmmmm, well, I can only guess you've lead a sheltered life....

>>Some students returning from abroad (due to their father being sent
>>there for a few years but the company) can also be called '*jin' as
>>some people don't think they are fully Japanese anymore.

>     Returned students are called "Kikoku Shijo", where "Kikoku" means
>"(to) return to (home) country" and "Shijo" means "children."  I can't
>think of any '*jin' word that refers to them. 

According to articles I've read in the Daily Yomiuri (sorry none at
hand) many such 'returnees' (as they are called in English) have problems. 

I've spoken with two: both said that when they first returned (one
from a year of high school in Detroit, the other from a year of high
school in Australia) they were taunted as being "gaijins" and
shunned by other students. In their case they quickly learned to
avoid this by becoming "Japanese" in the way they dressed, sat,
walked, and spoke Japanese & English. In particular, they had to
speak katakana English in class or otherwise the sensei became angry
as their English was better than his. 

I had the good fortune to be at a small gathering where one of them
was talking at one time to her Japanese sensei and at other times to
people like myself. She had two different personalities.  One spoke
katakana English and acted extremely deferential, and the other
spoke American slang and was acted as an equal with both myself and
other people twice her age. Very adept, she was.

IMHO, some students are not so clever and have problems because they
only have one personality. And thus they need to go to special
schools since, as you know, "bullying" is very strong in Japanese
schools and some students commit suicide over it. 

Just in case you're still tempted to confuse real life with
dictionary meanings, you might try looking up 'nigger' in a
dictionary. My Random House Collegiate Dictionary, 1982 gives 
"1. Negro.  2. a member of any dark-skinned race." OK to call 
Michael Jackson a nigger (no offense intended)? Hardly... 

No flame intended, but I really would suggest finding out how words
are currently being used instead of relying on (outdated) dictionary
definitions. Could come in handy; could save your life in the right
situation! 

Dave

--
Dave McLane 
JUNET: davidg@aegis.or.jp (ONLY within Japan: post otherwise)
Nagaokakyoshi, Kyoto Japan Tel: +81-75-951-1168 Fax: +81-75-957-1087