外国人

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 外国人観光客が増えました。▶ —
   Foreign tourists have increased.
2. 外国人にも親切にする。▶ —
   I am kind to foreigners too.

Collocations

Mnemonic

Gaikokujin (外国人) is "foreigner" / non-Japanese — 外国 (gaikoku, foreign country) plus 人. Composition: 外 (soto, gai, outside) plus 国 (kuni, koku, country). The conversational shortening gaijin (ガイジン or 外人) coexists; formal Japanese prefers gaikokujin because some foreigners regard gaijin as discriminatory — a vocabulary shift since the 1980s. Zairyuu gaikokujin (foreign residents) reached about 3.43 million in 2023, 2.7 percent of Japans 125 million population: Chinese 780,000, Vietnamese 490,000, Korean 430,000, Filipino 320,000, Brazilian 220,000, Nepali 160,000, Indonesian 120,000, American 60,000 (rounded). Gaikokujin kankoukyaku (foreign tourists) hit a 31.88 million pre-pandemic peak in 2019, recovering to 25.07 million in 2023. Cultural code: shimaguni konjou (island-country mentality) and the uchi-soto (inside-outside) dichotomy embed themselves in the very word gaikokujin / gaijin. Government policy steps: the 1989 teijuusha (long-term resident) visa for ethnic-Japanese Brazilians and Peruvians; the 2019 tokutei ginou (specified skills) visa expanded openness; gaikokujin kyousei shakai (coexistence society for foreigners) policy vocabulary emerged from 2018. Korean oegugin and Chinese waiguoren diverge. JLPT N5 gaikokujin pairs with Japans social-policy cluster.

Quick check

1. Cultural shift between gaijin and gaikokujin?

   • Post-1980s shift from gaijin (felt discriminatory) to gaikokujin (more polite)
   • Synonyms, no shift
   • Gaijin is more polite
   • Both banned