While the term itself has no derogatory meaning, it emphasizes the exclusiveness of Japanese attitude and has therefore picked up pejorative connotations that many Westerners resent.
外人は西洋文学やポップカルチャーによく登場する。題名にもなっている小説としては、マーク・オルデンのGaijin(ニューヨーク:アーバーハウス (1986年))、ジェームズ・メルヴィルのGo gently, gaijin(ニューヨーク:St.Martin's Press、1986年)、ジェームズ・カーカップのGaijin on the Ginza(ロンドン:チェスタースプリングス (1991年))、ジェイムズ・クラヴェルのガイ=ジン(ニューヨーク:デラコルテプレス、1993)、やニック・ロウの同名の歌もある。長編映画のタイトルでは、チズカ・ヤマザキのGaijin – Os Caminhos da Liberdade(1980)とGaijin - Ama-me como Sou(2005)や、Fumi InoueのGaijin(2003)などの短編アニメのタイトルがある。
^The 13th-century pronunciation of the characters 外人 is debated; it may have been kotobito (ことびと), udokihito (うどきひと) or gwaijin (ぐゎいじん). The spelling gaijin is used here for continuity.
^ abKitahara, Michio (1989). Children of the Sun: the Japanese and the Outside World. Sandgate, Folkestone, England: Paul Norbury Publications. pp. 117, 516. "For example, gaijin literally means a 'person from outside', namely a foreigner, and that means 'Caucasian'. To describe a Japanese person in this manner is a compliment to him or her. To be 'similar to a foreigner' (gaijin-no youna) means to be similar to a westerner, and this too, is a compliment."
^ abcGottlieb, Nanette (2005). Language and Society in Japan. Cambridge University Press. pp. 117–8. ISBN978-0-521-53284-6 "Gaikokujin is uncontroversial and simply means a person who does not hold Japanese citizenship; it is the more common contracted version that has been the subject of irritated complaint: people may be pointed at by children and have the word gaijin either shouted or whispered though this is much less common in Japan today than it was thirty years ago. At a deeper level, though, it is the connotation of exclusion and oddity that irks, particularly when the term is combined with the adjective hen na to mean 'peculiar foreigner,' a term once often heard on Japanese television shows. The term gaijin itself is included these days by most broadcasters on their list of terms best avoided."
^Meredith Stuart, Paul (1987). Nihonsense. Tokyo: The Japan Times, Ltd.. pp. 3–5 "Not all foreigners are gaijin to Japanese and quite a few natives of Japan are gaijin. There is a logic to this mess, but it is hardly logical. It is true that 'American' (Amerikajin) is a synonym for gaijin for many Japanese. At one time, at least when the U.S. auto industry was undisputed leader of world autodom, the term connoted awe and respect."
^Wada, Minoru (20 June 1994). “Education behind the scenes”. The Daily Yomiuri: 9.