Sean wrote:
> On 10/3/05 10:24 PM, "necoandjeff"  typed:
>
>> declan_murphy@hotmail.com wrote:
>>> necoandjeff wrote:
>>>> <snip>And I've heard a number of other such
>>>> anecdotes from Nagoya as well, like a friend who took his shirts to
>>>> the dry cleaners and got them all back with "gaijin" written on the
>>>> inside collar. Based merely on the stories I've traded with others
>>>> over the years, Nagoya seems to be a somewhat unique town.
>>>
>>> I've received a couple of gaiginsama notes over the years, but also
>>> when back in Iidabashi. At midnight mass in Hakodate a while back it
>>> wasn't a note but in the aisle for the Eucharist.
>>
>> Gaijinsan and gaijinsama are heard pretty much everywhere in Japan
>> (a quaint and mostly harmless moniker, although no foreigner I know
>> considers being a gaijin their profession...) But that is quite
>> different from a dry cleaner who doesn't even have the decency to
>> ask a customer their name so they can write it on their shirt
>> collar, don't you think? Cultural comparisons aren't always
>> accurate, but can you imagine a dry cleaner in Marin county who
>> writes "black guy" on the inside collar of a customer's shirt? I
>> think it's pretty much the same thing.
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>
> The group haven't bickered about whether 外人 is a bad word for a long
> time. Which side do you want to take this time?

My take on this has always been that it is very similar to yobisute. I refer
to myself as gaijin all the time, as do my friends when we're cutting up (I
would be very uncomfortable if a friend used gaikokujin, rather than
gaijin.) But I do think it is rude when someone I don't know uses gaijin. I
never take anyone to task for it, because being confrontational is generally
futile, but I would be a little taken aback if I heard someone us it and it
would contribute to a slightly unfavorable impression of that person.

Jeff