Frequently Asked Questions

What’s a Hairy Barbarian?

In this day and age, it’s an inside joke that only non-Japanese living in Japan seem to get.

In 19th-century Japan, foreigners were considered interesting curiosities to be studied, distrusted and feared. They were commonly referred to as 毛唐(ketou) or 毛唐人(ketoujin). Which was translated into English as “hairy barbarians”. It’s an odd translation, if you ask me, since the characters pretty clearly mean “hairy chinese”, but no matter.

In 21st century Japan, foreigners are considered interesting curiosities to be studied, distrusted and feared. However, over the years while the meaning of ketou has remained the same, its connotation has changed drastically. These days it is one of the most offensive words in the Japanese language, and it is rarely heard unless followed immediately by the sound of teeth being knocked out. (No kidding guys, you will embarrass, not impress, your Japanese friends if you use this word to refer to yourself or others.)

Although ketou is no-longer in general use, the term “hairy barbarians” is still commonly used by Westerners to describe how Japanese describe Westerners. When the phrase is translated back into Japanese, it is usually rendered as 野蛮人(yabanjin) which means barbarian. The Japanese then scratch their heads, suck their teeth, and insist that the term was never widely used to refer to foreigners.

So now you know.

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Bloging provides the perfect outlet for my pathological narcissism. I mean, clearly whatever I choose to write about is a lot more interesting than what would normally be running through your mind right now.